The Engagement Catalyst
by SergeantFuzzyBoots
Summary: Leonard has finally decided to ask Penny to marry, and while popping the question to his girlfriend may seem like the hardest challenge, it's no match for what's to come.
1. Chapter 1

**So I wrote this fic for BigBangBigBang 2011. I had to write a fic about The Big Bang Theory that was at least 15,000 words and this is the final product. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks so much to Nicole (WeBuiltThePyramids) for making the fantastic art/media that goes along with this fic(a link will be posted on my profile soon) and thanks to The Queen of Double Standards for being my beta.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Sheldon greeted Leonard and Penny as they entered 4A, dragging their luggage with them. "Oh, good, you're back!" he said cheerfully, getting up from his spot. "How was Nebraska?"

At that, Penny gave Leonard a nudge. He glanced at her and she nodded to him. He rolled his eyes at her. "It was better than North Dakota," he replied, completely dead-panned.

Penny glared at him, clearly not anticipating his monotone delivery. He grinned back at her. Hey, she'd only told him to tell the joke; she hadn't specified how.

"That joke still isn't funny here," Sheldon informed them, crossing his arms. "Now, down to business: did either of you catch a cold or contract any kind of virus while away?"

Penny smirked. "No, Sheldon. Everyone was completely healthy the entire time."

The theoretical physicist let out a sigh of relief. "Good. But I request that you both shower before doing anything else because there's still the risk of airplane germs. And shower one at a time!" he added hastily upon noticing the mischievous glance that the couple shared.

Penny rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll see you guys a little later." She picked up her luggage and kissed Leonard's cheek before exiting the apartment. Leonard watched her go, and then shook his head. He picked up his suitcase and headed towards his bedroom, ignoring Sheldon's questioning remarks on why he was going to his room and not the bathroom where he was supposed to be showering.

Upon entering his room, Leonard dropped his suitcase and fell onto bed, burying his face deep in the pillows. He had a headache, but it wasn't from flying or some sort of illness that Sheldon would be fretting over; he'd had a lot on his mind these past few days and had been thinking hard, so much so that it was making his head hurt. He sometimes encountered these headaches while working on complex equations or studying some data for work. This time, though, it stemmed from thoughts about his relationship with Penny.

It had started on their third night in Nebraska. He and Penny had been sitting on the couch in the living room with Wyatt in an armchair next to them. Penny's mother had been there as well, but she'd gone upstairs to talk about something with Penny's brother who was now living there because of-according to Penny-another 'big misunderstanding'.

While talking and laughing with Wyatt, Leonard had reflected on how different his last encounter with Penny's father had been. There was no more pretending; the things Leonard and Penny said to one another were now genuine, and the public displays of affection were no longer an act. They were a strong, real couple now, Leonard had thought. They had been for a long time now, and were in a much better place than they'd been when Wyatt had visited over a year ago. Back when they were still confused and unsure about things.

Looking back at that time, Leonard never would have thought that he and Penny would end up in such a happy place, so he'd taken what he could get while they'd been pretending for Wyatt, kissing her, calling her love bug, and teasingly asking her if she'd been 'dreamily doodling Mrs. Leonard Hofstadter in a notebook'.

That's when it had hit him. Mrs. Leonard Hofstadter. He'd been teasing at the time because, back then, he'd lost hope that it would ever happen. But, sitting there with his arm around her, Leonard had realized that now it could happen. So, for the rest of the trip, he'd gone back and forth about whether or not to go through with it. To ask Penny to marry him.

Marriage was a big step, much bigger than an "I love you", and Penny had been scared by that. If he were to propose, it might bring up more uncertainty, and could weaken, or possibly end them.

Leonard sat up suddenly and shook his head. He couldn't think like that. Penny had openly told him that she loved him now, and they'd worked through all of the insecurities and doubt about their relationship. They were in a good place now, and he was ready to do this. Even if there were risks involved, he would go through with this. He couldn't just not try something because he was worried it might not work out.

He let out a shaky breath, clasping his hands together. It was a big decision, but it was something he wanted so desperately. He would ask Penny to marry him.


	2. Chapter 2

Leonard waited a week before actually acting on his decision to propose. During that week he'd suffered through several strenuous sessions of internal interrogation. Where would he propose? How would he ask Penny to marry him? What would he wear? What kind of ring would he buy? The last question had been the one Leonard had decided to tackle first, and was the reason he now sat on the couch, looking through a ring brochure.  
>The experimental physicist frowned in confusion as he looked at the descriptions of the different rings. He'd read some of the most advanced books on physics in three days flat, but he couldn't make head or tail of anything written in the brochure. There were different cuts of rings, different sizes, and the word carat had been mentioned multiple times, though Leonard had yet to figure out what the hell that meant.<br>"Que-est ce que sup, nerd-sieur?" Howard asked as he and Raj entered the apartment.  
>Leonard hastily threw the ring brochure across the room and then began crossing and uncrossing his legs, trying to find a sitting position that looked casual. He didn't want any of the guys to know about his plans to propose yet. Least of all Howard, whom he was sure would have some very inappropriate comments on the matter.<br>"Hey, guys," said Leonard, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "What's going on?"  
>"Uh, it's new comic book night," said Howard, emphasizing that he was stating the obvious.<br>"Indeed it is," Sheldon said cheerfully as he came down the hallway and entered the living room. "Another Wednesday night the way it was meant to be."  
>Sheldon grabbed his jacket from the closet and then he, Howard, and Raj headed towards the door. Leonard rose to follow them, but then quickly sat back down. While he wanted nothing more than to distract himself from ring shopping by immersing himself in a world of comic books, he knew he couldn't afford to go. Literally. Comic books cost money and if he was going to buy an engagement ring, then he'd have to spend his money carefully.<br>"Chop, chop, Leonard; comic book fandom awaits," said Sheldon, snapping his fingers and motioning towards the hallway.  
>"Uh, actually, I think I'm gonna sit this one out," Leonard said.<br>The three men in the doorway slowly turned around to frown at him. "Why?" Howard asked.  
>Leonard shrugged, struggling to come up with a reason. "I don't know, I'm...just kinda...tired, I guess."<br>His three friends stared at him for a moment, making the experimental physicist feel rather uncomfortable. Then, Raj broke the silence. "He does look a little pale." Sheldon and Howard nodded in agreement.  
>Leonard frowned slightly. Maybe ring shopping was affecting him more than he realized.<br>Howard shrugged. "Well, feel better, buddy."  
>Leonard leaned back against the couch and let out a loud sigh as soon as his friends had exited the apartment. It was back to more ring shopping, an activity he'd come to loathe during the past two hours. Letting out another sigh, he got to his feet and began scanning the apartment for the brochure. He found it lying under one of the stools by the island.<br>"Alright, time to find the _one ring_," he said, chuckling to himself as he sat down.  
>"What's the one ring?"<br>Leonard nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard the voice of Amy Farrah Fowler. He looked over at Sheldon's desk and found her staring back at him from his roommate's laptop.  
>"Amy?" he cried incredulously.<br>"Hello," she said pleasantly, smiling and waving.  
>"How long have you been there?" he asked.<br>"Only a minute or two," the neurobiologist replied. "I signed on and noticed that you were crouched on the floor, and became concerned that you were having an epileptic seizure, but I now see that you're fine."  
>"But how did you get on? Doesn't somebody have to accept your request to video chat?"<br>"Normally that is the case, however, Sheldon and I have reworked our laptops so that we don't waste precious time on unnecessary mouse clicking."  
>Leonard raised an eyebrow and then shook his head. "Well,...thanks for making sure I wasn't...having a seizure."<br>"My pleasure," said Amy, smiling and nodding. "Now, back to my inquiry about your search for the 'one ring'."  
>Leonard stared at the neurobiologist, unblinking. He opened his mouth to speak, but found that no words came out.<br>"Is that ring brochure meant to aid you on your quest?" she asked.  
>"Uh..."Leonard drew the word out as long as he could, trying to come up with a lie before he moved on to his next sentence. "What...ring brochure?..." <em>Yeah, that's brilliant, Leonard, just brilliant.<em>  
>"The one in your hand, of course," said Amy, frowning.<br>The experimental physicist found himself at a loss for words again. Any distraction would be welcome at this point. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and a moment later Penny stuck her head in the apartment. Any distraction except his girlfriend walking in on an awkward discussion about her engagement ring!  
>Leonard quickly shoved the ring brochure in between the couch cushions and then bolted towards Sheldon's desk and slammed the laptop shut, ignoring Amy's exclamations of protest.<br>"Was that Amy?"  
>Leonard jumped slightly when he realized that Penny was now only a few feet from him.<br>"Yeah," he replied. He was out of breath, his heart pounding in his chest. "But, she had to go." He stepped forward and gave her a quick kiss. "What's up?"  
>"My laptop's not working again," Penny replied, smiling sheepishly. Leonard chuckled and grinned back at her. "I'm surprised you're still here, though. I thought it was new comic book night."<br>"It is," said Leonard, nodding. "But I decided not to go."  
>"Oh. Why not?"<br>The experimental physicist frowned slightly; he'd been hoping to avoid that subject. "I don't know," he replied, shrugging. "Just tired."  
>"Well, you do look really pale," said Penny, placing a hand against the side of his face. "Are you feeling okay?"<br>"That's a popular opinion today," he muttered.  
>"What?"<br>"Nothing," he said dismissively. "I'm fine. Why don't you head back to your apartment? I'll be over in a minute to look at your laptop."  
>"Okay," Penny nodded, though she didn't look completely convinced.<br>Leonard let out a sigh of relief once his girlfriend had exited the apartment, and then went to retrieve the -now crumpled- brochure from the couch. He brought it to his bedroom-stashing it in the same shoebox he'd hidden the Lord of the Rings ring in, ironically-and then headed back out into the hall. He stopped abruptly and then entered the bathroom, looking at his face in the mirror.  
>"Hmm," he said, crossing his arms and furrowing his brow. "I don't look pale."<p>

* * *

><p>"Good morning, Leonard."<br>Leonard jumped when he once again heard Amy's voice from where she stood in the doorway to his office. He really wished people would stop scaring him like that; he didn't think all of this surprise and shock was good for him.  
>"Hey, Amy," he said, frowning slightly as he pushed the papers he'd been reading aside. "What's going on?"<br>"I just figured that out," Amy said, beaming proudly. "So, I ran over here as quickly as I could to discuss it with you."  
>Leonard gave her a quizzical stare, trying to make sense of what the neurobiologist was saying. "What...what did you figure out?"<br>"What's going on, of course."  
>The experimental physicist waited for her to continue, but she merely stood silently in the doorway, staring at him expectantly.<br>"And what _is_ going on?"  
>"Your upcoming engagement to Penny," Amy replied, clearly a tad irritated that she had to explain.<br>Leonard's jaw dropped and he found himself incapable of blinking. How had she found out? He'd been so careful! She had seen the ring brochure, but she hadn't associated it with a proposal at the time. "How did you find out?" he spluttered.  
>"Well, I was rather confused by what transpired during our web chat the other night, so I spent hours mulling over why your quest for the one ring was so important. Then, several Wikipedia searches later, I came to the exciting conclusion that you intend to ask Penny to marry you!" Amy smiled brightly, almost bouncing, as if she couldn't contain her excitement.<br>Leonard sighed, adjusting his glasses. "Well, yeah, I am...asking Penny to marry me." He grinned when he realized that was the first time he'd said those words out loud. It made it all the more real and exciting-well, and terrifying, but he was trying to keep things positive.  
>Amy let out a high-pitched sound of glee as she clapped her hands together and jumped slightly. The experimental physicist couldn't help but smile a little as he watched. He supposed it couldn't hurt if only one person knew about his plans, and he'd at least have someone to confide in whilst working through all of the problems that he was bound to encounter.<br>"So, when do we go ring shopping?" the neurobiologist asked once she'd calmed down.  
>"Oh, <em>we<em>?" Leonard asked, taken aback. He hadn't really decided when he was going to get the ring, or where to get the ring. He still didn't even know what ring he was getting, but Amy Farrah Fowler tagging along had definitely not crossed his mind.  
>"Of course," she said, nodding. "As Penny's bestie, I'm required to make sure that you pick out the perfect piece of jewellery that won't make her finger look like a horrid mess."<br>Leonard frowned. He wasn't sure how confident he was in Amy's knowledge of jewellery, but he was certain that if he didn't let her come along, then there would be consequences, ones he'd rather not suffer. "Alright, I guess you can come," he sighed.  
>"Excellent," said Amy, giving a nod of satisfaction. "We'll leave at ten o'clock sharp tomorrow."<br>"_Tomorrow?_" Leonard asked incredulously, feeling his heart beat accelerate. He was supposed to go out and buy Penny an engagement ring _tomorrow_? Some time _tomorrow_ he'd have purchased it and be one step closer to the proposal? The experimental physicist clasped his hands together, squeezing them tightly as he tried to keep the terror at bay. Amy certainly wasn't helping to keep the positivity flowing; the slow pace he'd been going at had been one of the few things keeping him calm!  
>"Yep!" the neurobiologist replied cheerfully before exiting the hyperventilating physicist's office.<br>Leonard stared at the empty doorway for a moment and then fell back into his desk chair, reaching into his pocket for his inhaler.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, how much do you know about this kind of stuff?" Leonard asked the neurobiologist skeptically. He and Amy had driven to the mall that morning and had just entered the enigmatic world that was the jewellery store.  
>"Next to nothing," Amy replied, not seeming at all fazed by that fact as she began scanning the contents of the glass display cases. Leonard wished he could feel as comfortable as she did, although, she wasn't the one who would be using this ring to propose, so maybe that took some of the pressure off. "What do you know?" she asked, coming to a halt in front of one of the cases.<br>"Less than next to nothing," Leonard said wryly.  
>"Well, then we appear to be in the same boat on that front," Amy observed. "However, most of my aid will come from my extensive understanding of feminine desires."<br>"Oh yeah?" Leonard asked, coming up beside her to look inside the case she was examining. Despite his hopes, the visuals weren't doing anything for him.  
>"Oh, yes," she affirmed, nodding. "Based on the many observations of women I've made, I've deduced that females are usually drawn to a large quantity when it comes to size. And given that I'm also a girl-as I've told Penny many times-I have to concur: the bigger, the better."<br>Leonard nodded a few times. The bigger the better. He was starting to understand Howard's discomfort over meeting Glenn even more. Shaking his head, he pressed the neurobiologist for more information. "So, how big of a ring are we talking about then?" he asked somewhat anxiously; he felt as though the bulge in his pocket that was his wallet was shrinking down to the size of a dime.  
>Amy frowned for a moment and then darted towards the next display case, examined it, and then abandoned it to check another. Leonard watched as this pattern continued for a few more minutes until Amy cried, "Found it!"<br>The bespectacled physicist hurried over to the glass case and he gaped at the neurobiologist when he caught sight of the ring she was pointing at. The diamond that rested on top of the golden band was at least the size of a large marble and went light-years past his ideal budget.  
>Leonard shook his head. "There's no way I can afford that."<br>"Leonard," said Amy, her stern tone surprising the experimental physicist. "I want my bestie's finger to look nice, and this ring is clearly superior to all others in the store."  
>"I want her finger to look nice, too," Leonard protested. He crossed his arms and looked down at the ring again, furrowing his brow. "But I don't want it to fall off when I put the ring on, either..." The experimental physicist shook his head. "Let's just keep looking." Amy reluctantly agreed and the two continued to make their way through the store.<br>"Hey, how about this one?" Leonard asked nearly ten minutes later. The ring was rather simple, with a small diamond resting on top of a silver band, but it was nice, and he liked it.  
>Amy had a very different opinion about it. "No," she said flatly.<br>"Why not? What's wrong with it?"  
>"Well, granted, Leonard, it's nice enough," she explained, glancing dubiously at the ring. "However, I doubt it's enough to make your proposal garner positive results."<br>Leonard's eyes widened. "You think she's gonna say no?" he asked nervously.  
>"Not if you get this one!" Leonard rolled his eyes as Amy raced back to the display case that held the marble sized ring. He let out an exasperated sigh and followed her.<br>"I'm not getting that ring, Amy."  
>The neurobiologist shrugged and shook her head. "Then I can't be sure of her answer."<br>Leonard let out another sigh of exasperation and then shook his head. "I'm sure this other ring will be just fine," he said, leading Amy back towards the other case.  
>"Is your tendency to ignore logic and reason a quality Penny finds attractive?" Amy asked quite seriously. Leonard narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, then shook his head, deciding it wasn't worth the argument, and went to find a jeweller to get him the ring.<p>

"Hmm..." Amy mumbled frowning. "I wonder if his refusal to answer simple questions is another quality she finds endearing." Well, her bestie had always had unusual tastes. 


	4. Chapter 4

"Hmm..."  
>Leonard narrowed his eyes and turned to face his roommate, who was hovering over him while he readied the coffee table for dinner. "Problem?" he asked.<br>Sheldon shrugged. "Not unless you consider getting the pizza from the wrong place a problem, which, judging by the dinner you purchased, you don't."  
>The experimental physicist let out a sigh. "Sheldon, I'm sure it'll taste just fine. Try it first and then decide, okay?"<br>The theoretical physicist crossed his arms. "Leonard, if you offered me a Kouhun and told me to try it before determining whether I liked it, then I'd be dead."  
>"Well, there's a pretty big difference between this pizza and a Kouhun."<br>"Which is?"  
>"The pizza is not poisonous!" Leonard fell back into the white arm chair as Sheldon began to explain the various ways that their dinner could be fatal. This was the last time he went to a different restaurant because the Sheldon-approved one's line was too long. He'd much rather be reprimanded for tardiness than this.<br>_Definitely didn't think that one through_ Leonard thought, leaning his head back.  
>In his defence, his impending proposal was weighing heavily on his mind, but he couldn't tell Sheldon that. The last thing Leonard needed was the theoretical physicist finding out about his plans and being unable to keep the secret. He shook his head as he remembered Sheldon revealing all of Penny's thoughts about their relationship while on Valium.<br>"And don't even get me started on how this is going to affect my morning routine tomorrow," Sheldon finished in a huff, crossing his arms and sinking into his spot.  
>"Oh, I wouldn't dare," Leonard mumbled sarcastically. He smiled when the door opened and Howard and Bernadette walked in, hand in hand, grateful for the break in his and Sheldon's conversation.<br>"Hey, guys," Leonard said, getting up to grab more chairs.  
>"Hey, buddy," Howard said in an overly cheerful voice. Leonard raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at the couple. Both were staring at him, huge grins on their faces; they border lined on Sheldon's forced smile.<br>"What's going on?" he asked, a tad confused.  
>The couple shrugged, continuing to smile. "Nothing," they answered in unison.<br>Leonard frowned slightly and then shrugged as he set the wooden chair down next to his white one. Maybe the two had just gotten to a higher base-if that was possible-...and he didn't really want to hear about that.  
>Suddenly, the experimental physicist found himself engulfed in a hug by Bernadette. Confused, he glanced over at Howard. The engineer's mouth merely opened into a wider grin and he bounced his shoulders in excitement. How exciting had this base been exactly?<br>"Um...thanks," Leonard mumbled once the microbiologist let go. The couple grinned at him once more and then took their seats on the couch next to Sheldon, who shrank away; most likely terrified that he would be subjected to the same form of greeting.  
>While the engineer and microbiologist couple's stares intensified Leonard's confusion, it wasn't until Raj and Amy entered the apartment and the astrophysicist pulled him into a choking hug that he put his foot down.<br>"Okay," Leonard said, awkwardly unwrapping Raj's arms from around his shoulders. "What's going on?"  
>"No need to worry, Leonard; they're merely excited about your upcoming engagement," Amy explained.<br>"Wh-you told them?" the experimental physicist asked incredulously.  
>Amy smiled and nodded. "Of course. Friends share news, and this news seemed rather important."<br>"It wasn't your news to share!"  
>"I'm sorry, what is going on?" Sheldon asked, rising from his spot.<br>Leonard shook his head, bringing a hand to his forehead. "Here we go," he muttered.  
>The theoretical physicist came to stand next to him, folding his arms and frowning. "Are you intending to ask Penny to marry you?"<br>Leonard nodded reluctantly. "Yes," he replied, grimacing when Raj clapped his hands in excitement.  
>"Well, why was I the last to know?" he asked indignantly.<br>"My apologies, Sheldon," Amy chimed in. "I was planning on telling you first, however, I thought it more appropriate to relay the information to Bernadette first, considering she is a girl and we stick together. Correct?" The neurobiologist looked to the microbiologist for an affirmation, and smiled proudly when Bernadette nodded. "Anyways, she then told Howard, who told Rajesh, but apparently no one bothered to inform you." She shook her head guiltily. "Clearly my faith in the "pass it on system" is at fault."  
>Sheldon waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry, Amy; I bear you no ill will. I bear Leonard an ill will." He turned to glare at the experimental physicist. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his voice turning to a whine towards the end.<br>Leonard sighed. "I'm sorry, Sheldon. I would've told you, but...given your track record for keeping secrets, I couldn't risk it."  
>Sheldon's eyes widened as the realization suddenly hit him and he brought his hands to his face, shaking his head. "Oh, dear Lord, I've been locked into another one."<br>"Yes, I know, but, Sheldon, please," Leonard said desperately, placing a hand on his roommate's shoulder. "You have to keep this a secret."  
>Sheldon shook his head, hands still on his face in distress. "Leonard, you know I can't! Unless you plan on proposing the minute Penny enters this apartment, then there is no doubt in my mind that I'll have ruined the surprise by the end of dinner...unless that pizza kills me first," he said, motioning towards the coffee table.<br>"Interesting. Are we experimenting on the food this evening?" Amy asked, her excitement evident.  
>"No," Leonard said, rather annoyed with her. He knew that Amy hadn't meant to do anything wrong, but Sheldon finding out about the proposal before it happened was pretty high up on his list of worst case scenarios, and she'd made it a reality. He turned his attention back to his roommate. "Sheldon, please just try."<br>"Leonard, my father said the same thing to me when he wanted me to play football, and I ended up in a hospital bed for two days; I cannot do it!"  
>"Hang on," Bernadette said. "Sheldon, why don't we just figure out a way to distract you whenever it seems like you're about to slip up?"<br>Sheldon nodded his head uncertainly. "I suppose that might work; however, being the care-free spirit I am, there are few things that can easily upset or distract me." The theoretical physicist frowned when he was met with four incredulous stares; only Amy seemed to be following the logic of his statement.  
>"Alright, well what <em>does<em> distract you?" Leonard asked.  
>"Grammatical errors are very distracting," Sheldon replied. "Especially when reading. Honestly, they take you right out of the story."<br>Leonard frowned slightly but then forged on. "Maybe something a little easier. How about we just give you a nudge, or poke you in the arm, or something," he suggested.  
>The theoretical physicist's eyes narrowed. "That is the same form of cruel torture I had to endure all through the first grade when Billy Sparks decided that covering my bicycle with animal waste had become tedious." He gave a small shudder.<br>"Perfect. So, we'll just get someone to poke you," said Bernadette.  
>Howard's hand shot up. "Dibs!" he cried. He smiled playfully when Bernadette shook her head at him.<br>"Alright, fine," Sheldon agreed sinking into his spot. He turned to face the engineer sitting next to him. "But don't poke me too hard!"

* * *

><p>Although she'd noticed that Leonard had been acting strangely for the past week, the waitress hadn't been too worried about it. He'd been very jumpy around her, and seemed to constantly be on edge; Penny had figured that there was something going on, but had decided not to broach the subject, assuming that it wasn't that big of a deal. However, when she entered apartment 4A for pizza that evening, she realized that whatever was going on was clearly much bigger than she'd thought. Upon entering the apartment, everyone shouted her name in overly cheerful surprise-well, almost everyone. Raj obviously didn't, and Amy shouted bestie instead of Penny.<br>"...hi," she said, drawing the word out. The over-the-top replies to her greeting did nothing to diminish her suspicion.  
>She slowly made her way around the coffee table, frowning when all eyes followed her. She sat down on the arm of Leonard's chair and looked down at him. "Why's everybody staring at me?" she whispered, feeling like she had when she'd entered the comic book store for the first time.<br>Leonard waved a hand dismissively. "Pssh, nobody's staring at you," he said, shaking his head as if she were crazy. The others all chimed in to agree.  
>Penny narrowed her eyes as she reached for her plate. She didn't need to be a genius to realize that she was being kept in the dark about something. She'd thought that only Leonard was the one with something going on, but clearly everyone was involved. Everyone except her. She didn't like that. Usually Sheldon was the one they kept out of the loop, but that was for his own protection! She couldn't think of anything that she wouldn't be able to handle and she didn't think her friends knew any better than she did.<br>"So, Penny," Sheldon said, interrupting her thoughts. The waitress frowned when she looked up at her neighbour and saw that his left eye was twitching slightly. _A sure sign that he's concealing something_, she thought, her annoyance growing. "You'll be displeased to know that Leonard purchased tonight's dinner from a different restaurant than we are accustomed to. Perhaps you'd like to give your two cents on the matter, so we can start a lengthy conversation about the food that will last the duration of the evening and prevent us from discussing anything else, such as something life-changing-ow!" Penny's eyes widened in surprise as Howard jabbed his finger into Sheldon's arm.  
>"What did you do that for?" she exclaimed, feeling a slight motherly instinct come over her as Sheldon rubbed his arm.<br>Howard looked up to stare at her, his jaw slowly dropping. "Umm..." he mumbled, his hands fidgeting nervously.  
>"Clearly, Howard was attempting to test Sheldon's reaction to pain," Amy explained as if it were the most normal thing to be doing on a Friday evening. "Fun experiments like that are what help maintain a light atmosphere." The neurobiologist reached over from where she sat in the wooden chair and gave Penny's arm a hard poke.<br>"Hey!" Penny yelped, flinching slightly.  
>"See?" Amy said, smiling brightly. "Endless fun."<br>"Yeah, endless fun," Penny grumbled.  
>Leonard slid an arm around her and began gently rubbing the arm Amy had poked. Penny narrowed her eyes at him. He knew what was going on and wasn't telling her, and she hated that. Leonard saw the look she was giving him and quickly looked away, making her scowl. No, she was not enjoying this one bit.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Later that night, Penny climbed into bed next to Leonard, who was sitting up, reading the latest issue of one of his science magazines. She propped herself up on her left elbow and looked at him. It took her boyfriend a moment before he noticed her gazing at him. He slowly lowered his magazine.

"What?" he asked, giving her a confused grin.

"You're keeping something from me," she stated. She didn't need to phrase it as a question; she already knew it was true.

Leonard's eyes widened and he tossed his magazine aside. "No, I'm not," he said, shaking his head, as if it would put more emphasis on that fact.

"Yes, you are!" she argued, crossing her arms as she sat up. "And everyone's in on it, but me!"

"What makes you say that?" he asked, mindlessly bunching up the sheets in his now-clenched fists.

Penny narrowed her eyes. "I'm not stupid, Leonard." He opened his mouth to speak-probably to agree with her-, but she didn't let him. "_You've _been jumpy around me for the past week, and now tonight people are poking Sheldon whenever he opens his mouth and staring at me like I'm about to explode!"

"We were poking Sheldon because of the...fun experiment thing Amy mentioned," Leonard stammered, awkwardly motioning with his hands.

"Oh, come on, Leonard! Just tell me what's going on!" Penny knew she sounded whiny and childish, and maybe it was rather juvenile to get so worked up about a secret. But, screw it. All of her friends were keeping her in the dark about something; that ought to warrant some childish behaviour!

"There's nothing to tell," Leonard assured her.

Penny let out a groan of frustration and then rolled onto her side, facing away from her boyfriend. "Fine. Don't tell me." She sighed, pulling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes.

A second later, Penny heard the bed creak and then felt Leonard's lips touch lightly against her cheek for a brief moment.

"I love you," she heard him say before the bed creaking again signalled that he had lain back down.

"Yeah, yeah. I love you, too," she grumbled after a moment.

Penny let out another small sigh as she tried to fall asleep. Clearly Leonard wasn't going to fold. Well, that was fine; if he didn't want to tell her what was going on, then she didn't care. She would just find someone else who would tell her.

"Interesting fun fact," Amy said cheerily before eating a spoonful of yogurt from the little container she held.

Penny did the same as she looked over at the neurobiologist. She, Amy, and Bernadette had gone out to eat after she and Bernadette had finished working. Now, they were walking down the sidewalk, heading towards the apartment.

"Technically, the yogurt we're eating," Amy explained, using the small, red spoon in her hand to gesture at the yogurt container. "Is not yogurt."

"Because it doesn't have enough live acidophilus cultures!" Penny chimed in, excited she knew the answer.

"Yes," Amy affirmed, though she looked slightly disappointed that she'd been robbed of sharing her fun fact.

"Oooh! It's also not pink and has no berries!" she added.

Bernadette raised an eyebrow at Penny. "How did you know that?"

"It's rather self-explanatory," the neurobiologist replied. "This"-she pointed to the yogurt again-"is clearly white, and unless they're at the bottom, contains no raspberries, blueberries, or any other fruit you'd expect to find in yogurt."

The microbiologist shook her head. "No, I got that part; I was just wondering how Penny knew about live acidophilus cultures."

"Hey! I know things!" Penny said, feigning hurt. She kept it up for a few seconds and then cracked a smile. "But, you're right to be suspicious; Leonard told me."

"Ah," said Bernadette, nodding.

"Speaking of Leonard," Penny said, seizing her opportunity. "I've noticed that he's been acting really weird lately."

Bernadette shot a quick glance at Amy. To Penny's surprise, the two scientists didn't look worried or suspicious of what she was getting at; they looked happy, almost excited.

She continued after a moment's pause. "Have either of you noticed that?"

"Absolutely not," Amy replied, smiling broadly.

"Yeah," Bernadette agreed, beaming.

Penny frowned. This wasn't getting her anywhere. She had at least hoped that her girls would be able to let her in on the secret, but apparently their lips were sealed just as tightly as Leonard's.

They had reached the apartment and Penny tossed her yogurt in the trash before entering. Bernadette and Amy did the same.

"So, you're sure you haven't noticed anything?" she asked, making one last effort. "Because you were all acting rather odd last night."

The two scientists shook their heads in unison. "Nope. No unusual behaviour to report," Amy confirmed, her smile not wavering. "Let's check to see if you have mail!"

Penny raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms as Amy and Bernadette raced to the other side of the lobby. _Well, this sucks_ she grumbled internally. What the hell was so important that everyone but her need know about it? They had even told _Sheldon_ for crying out loud!

A smile took over the waitress's face as an idea struck her. There was someone who could tell her what was going on-even if she had to put a Valium in his warm milk.

Penny bolted up the stairs, ignoring her friends' confused inquiries; she didn't have much time, and having two people who were working hard to keep her out of the loop would surely ruin her last chance. As she neared the fourth floor, she began taking the steps two at a time, being careful not to trip.

She didn't bother knocking once she reached 4A-she hardly ever did, anyway-, and simply burst into the apartment. She quickly closed the door and then proceeded to lock it. Nobody was getting in or out of this apartment until she knew what was going on. Well, true, anybody inside 4A could easily just unlock the door and leave, but...well, if it came to that, she could stop them better than a lock; Junior Rodeo had been no joke.

Penny strode into the living area and then sank down in Leonard's chair. Sheldon, who was sitting in his spot, lowered the copy of _Flash_ that was in his hands.

He looked at her curiously for a moment before speaking. "Hello."

"Hello," Penny replied. She put on a firm expression, folding her arms across her chest. She was attempting to look intimidating; however, it seemed that she didn't really need to. The theoretical physicist already looked on edge, his eyes darting around the apartment nervously, his hands clasped tightly together.

"Leonard's in his room; I'll go get him." Sheldon stood up abruptly and headed towards the hallway.

_Damn _she thought. If Leonard was here, then she only had a few minutes to get this done.

"No, no, no," Penny said, getting up as well. "I want to talk to you."

Sheldon raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning on throwing Leonard another unnecessary, _kick-ass_"-he used air quotes as he spoke- "surprise party for his birthday?"

"No."

The whackadoodle let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God," he said, putting a hand to his chest. "I don't think I could I handle another secret."

"Ah ha! So there is a secret!" Penny cried, grinning broadly.

Sheldon's eyes widened in alarm. He began fidgeting with his hands, and he couldn't meet her gaze as he spoke. "I'm sorry?"

"There's a secret," she said excitedly-she was so close now, that she couldn't help it.

"No," he argued, turning his head towards the kitchen so there was even less chance of him meeting her gaze.

"Oh, yes, there is," she said, stepping closer. "And everybody knows about it, except me."

"I'm really rather busy, Penny. Perhaps you could come back at another time." His left eye started to twitch.

"No," she said firmly. "You're going to tell me what's going on. What's this big secret?"

By this point, the theoretical physicist had turned his head so far to the left, that he almost had his back turned to her. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." His voice was shaky and more high pitched than usual.

"Yes, you do," she pressed, growing anxious. She thought he'd have cracked by now. "I bet it's been weighing really heavily on you," she continued. "Every day you have to remember to not tell anyone about the big secret." She realized that this was a cruel tactic to use on someone like Sheldon, and she did feel bad about it, but she had to know. She'd take him to the comic book store and buy him something to make up for it.

"I'm sorry, Penny! I don't know what you're referring to, but I can assure you that there is no secret that I know of or that anyone else knows of!" Sheldon's voice was almost a yell, surprising Penny. She hadn't expected him to react like that. But, clearly, he was almost at his breaking point; he should fold any second now.

That was when Leonard came rushing down the hallway.

"Hey, Sheldon," he said, nodding to his roommate as he walked by him. "Hi, sweetie, how are you?"

Before she had a chance to say anything, Leonard pulled her to him and put his lips on hers.

"Mmm," she said. Her hands went to his chest and she tried to push him away. She knew what he was trying doing and she was determined to not let him succeed. Unfortunately, Penny's attempts to escape were in vain; Leonard held her tightly against him, giving her no room to pull away.

Penny cursed internally as she heard the door open and then close, signalling Sheldon's departure. _So much for that_ she thought bitterly.

Leonard had also heard the door and took that as his cue to pull away. "Hey," he said. He gave her a smile of fake oblivion, infuriating her.

Penny glared at him. The look of complete surprise that he then used to reply to her glare with was the last straw.

"Alright, you know what, Leonard," she said, turning on her heel and heading towards the door. "If you don't trust me enough to think that I can handle this big secret, then that's fine. Whatever! I don't care!" She was shouting now; she was too angry not to.

"Penny, of course I trust you," Leonard argued.

"Yes," she agreed, voice dripping with sarcasm. "The fact that everybody except me is in on this secret is a clear indication of that!" With that, she exited the apartment, slamming the door before she crossed the hall to 4B.

* * *

><p>Leonard collapsed into his chair after Penny left, letting out a loud sigh. That had been a close one. Thankfully, Bernadette and Amy had texted him that Penny seemed to be onto something, and a moment later he'd heard Sheldon yelling. So, for now, everything was okay. Well, except for the fact that Penny was now mad at him. He wasn't too thrilled about that. The worst part was that he couldn't even go to her and try and make things better, since the only way to do that would either be by telling her the secret, or convincing her that there was no secret. He couldn't do either of those. True, he could do the former by proposing, but he wasn't going to just grab the ring and get down on one knee in the hallway; something that special required a bit more thought and planning.<p>

The sound of his phone buzzing interrupted his thoughts. He removed the cell phone from his pocket and looked at the screen to find a text message from Sheldon.

_Leonard, you have twenty-four hours to propose. If you fail do so within the given time line, then I will be forced to move out. Given the events of the last time I moved out, Wolowitz and Koothrapali are backing me up on this._

At first, Leonard rolled his eyes at the text, but then he frowned. Sheldon was right. The theoretical physicist was far too close to slipping up, and Penny was far too suspicious for him to put this off much longer. He let out a shaky breath and then texted Sheldon back.

_Give me thirty hours._

He responded a moment later. _I can give you twenty-nine._

The experimental physicist let out an exasperated sigh and then agreed. He glanced at his watch. It was four twenty-five. By nine thirty p.m tomorrow, he'd have proposed.


	6. Chapter 6

Leonard fiddled with his suit jacket nervously as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He hadn't been this anxious since his first real date with Penny; although, in that case he'd found comfort in the fact that they were both nervous. Tonight, he would be the one constantly battling a fit of nerves, while she remained oblivious until he proposed. Oh, _God._ He was proposing tonight.

The dizzying sensation that swept through him at that thought almost made him wish that Penny had rejected his offer to dinner. Technically, she had. "No, I'm mad at you." had been her first response, but after a few minutes of persuasion, she'd finally agreed. Hopefully her answer to tonight's question would be a bit more positive.

Finally deciding that he couldn't make himself look any better by adjusting his suit, he exited the bathroom and headed out into the living room. Sheldon was sitting in his spot and appeared to be talking to his phone.

"Sheldon, what are you doing?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm conversing with Amy Farrah Fowler," the theoretical physicist replied. He smiled and held up his phone so Leonard could see the neurobiologist's beaming face.

"Hi, Amy," Leonard said, waving.

"Hello," she said, waving back. "So, tonight's the big night, huh?"

Leonard smiled nervously. "Yep."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck," she said. "Without the ring I suggested, you'll most likely need it."

Leonard's eyes widened. "Oh God, the ring!" He dashed down the hall to go retrieve it from under his bed.

"Is it his inability to remember important details, such as engagement rings that Penny finds attractive?" Leonard heard Amy ask Sheldon as he came back down the hall. He rolled his eyes as Sheldon responded.

"I prefer not to use up my time by pondering the emotions behind romance and attraction; however, considering that Leonard forgets things often and Penny continues to have coitus with him, I'm assuming it must be a trait she finds desirable."

"My thoughts exactly," Amy agreed.

Leonard narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Are we done with that?" he asked impatiently.

Sheldon turned his phone so the screen faced Leonard and he and Amy nodded in unison. The experimental physicist wasn't sure if he should be amused or freaked out by that.

"Alright, well, see you guys later," he said, heading for the door.

"Leonard, wait," said Sheldon. Leonard turned around to face his roommate and looked at him expectantly. "Amy, will you give us a moment?"

"Of course."

Sheldon nodded appreciatively and then placed his phone on the coffee table with the screen facing down. He then stood up and approached Leonard. "Given that it is social protocol, I'd just like to wish you good luck."

"Really?" Leonard asked, genuinely surprised, and rather touched that even Sheldon was hoping for the best.

"Of course," he replied. "I greatly dislike it when Penny renders you a depressed, whimpering mess. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen tonight." He cleared his throat. "Good luck out there...buddy." Sheldon hesitantly reached out a hand and then patted Leonard on the shoulder.

Leonard smiled broadly. "Thanks, Sheldon." He stepped forward and hugged his roommate. Sheldon immediately tensed up, and Leonard-not wanting his friend to suffer through too long of an embrace-let go.

Sheldon nodded a few times and then said, "I request that we not do that again, unless it is absolutely necessary."

Leonard smirked. "What if Penny agrees to marry me? Would that make a hug absolutely necessary?"

"Wolowitz didn't hug me after Bernadette said yes to his proposal."

"You and Howard aren't best friends."

"He didn't hug Koothrapali, either," he pointed out.

Leonard rolled his eyes in amusement. "Fine, no hug."

Sheldon looked relieved. "Good," he sighed, and then he made his way back to his spot and picked up his phone.

The door opened then and Penny entered. Leonard felt his heart beat accelerate, and inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down. Sure, he would be feeling nervous all night, but he couldn't show it; he didn't want Penny to be suspicious for the whole evening, and she was already suspicious enough what with the secret.

"Hey," Penny said, shutting the door behind her.

"Hi, bestie!" Amy called from the phone.

Penny smiled and waved. "Hi, Amy." She turned to Leonard. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. He cleared his throat. "You look really pretty," he added, grinning. She did. She was wearing a blue dress that brought out the colour in her eyes, and Leonard couldn't stop smiling as he looked at her.

Penny raised an eyebrow at him. "Trying to get back on my good side, are we?" she asked playfully.

Leonard smirked and took her hand. "There is no try," he reminded her as they exited the apartment. "Only do."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Well, then you're _doing_ a good job so far."

* * *

><p>They went to the restaurant where they'd had their first official date. Leonard figured it would be a good place for the occasion. Apparently the site of the first date or the place you first met were good places to propose, and a nice restaurant certainly beat the hallway.<p>

Leonard fidgeted with his hands for the hundredth time that evening. He reached for his glass of wine in order to stop, but then quickly snatched his hand back. His shaking hands would not do well while holding a glass of red wine. Instead, his hand went to his jacket pocket and he felt the small lump that was the ring. He shook his head. No, not yet. He still had time. Well, not that much time; he had about half an hour left until Sheldon's deadline.

He returned his hand to the table, which was a mistake because he immediately started thrumming his fingers on the table. Frowning, Penny placed her own hand on his and squeezed it. "Honey, are you okay?" she asked.

Leonard nodded vigorously. "Yep. Fine. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked gently, clearly unconvinced.

"Yeah," he repeated. He looked at her and then down at their hands. "But, there is something I want to ask you."

"Hey, guys!"

Leonard grimaced as he turned in his seat to face Zack Johnson. Zack was carrying a small cardboard box filled with menus and grinning broadly.

"Hi, Zack," Penny said. "Your dad makes the menus for this place, too?"

Zack stared at her incredulously. "Whoa! How'd you know that?"

"Uh, you have a box of menus in your hands," Penny pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

Zack nodded. "Right." He turned to face Leonard and clapped him on the shoulder. "How's it going?"

_It was going a lot better until you showed up. _"Fine, Zack. How are you?"

"Doing awesome," Zack said brightly. "My dad's company just got hired by three different restaurant chains."

"That's great," said Leonard nodding. He liked Zack and all, but he really wished he would go away.

"Yep. We got hired by the Olive Garden down the street, the Olive Garden about twenty minutes from here and the Olive Garden by The Cheesecake Factory."

Leonard exchanged a glance with Penny and then frowned. "So...then you were only hired by one new restaurant chain."

"No," Zack said, drawing the word out and looking at Leonard as though he were crazy. "We were hired by three." He held up a finger as he started to count them out. "The Olive Garden down the street-"

"Yeah, but aren't they all the same chain...never mind," Leonard said dismissively.

"Oh, hey, what's this?" Zack crouched down next to Leonard's chair and reached a hand under it. Leonard's eyes widened when he looked down and saw the little box that held the ring under his chair. In a flash, he snatched up the ring and put it back in his pocket, but not before Zack got a good look at it.

"Hey," said Zack, frowning. "Was that a..." Zack gasped suddenly and his hand flew to his mouth. His eyes bugged out as he pointed from Leonard to Penny.

"What? What is it?" Penny asked, trying to look over to see what Leonard had picked up.

"Nothing!" Leonard chuckled awkwardly. He stood up and began leading Zack away from the table. "Just an inside joke we have. I need to talk to him for second, okay? Be right back!"

Leonard herded Zack to the entrance of the restaurant and then stopped.

"Whoa!" Zack cried excitedly.

"Keep your voice down!" Leonard hissed.

"Sorry. _Whoa!_" he said in an excited stage whisper. "You're proposing?"

Leonard sighed. He sure as hell wasn't going to tonight. Screw Sheldon's timeline, he didn't want the night he proposed to be the same night he and Penny had run into Zack while on a date. "Yeah, I'm planning to," he replied warily.

"That is so awesome!" he said, still using a stage whisper. He then straightened up, his face suddenly serious. "And you have my blessing."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"I am totally fine with you asking Penny to marry you," Zack explained. "That's probably been weighing on you pretty heavily, so, now you don't need to worry." He smiled, clapping Leonard on the shoulder again.

"Yes," Leonard said sarcastically. "Not having permission from my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend with whom she went on three dates with was weighing on me _very_ heavily."

Zack nodded. "Thought so." Leonard had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes. "But now you're good to go!"

"Yep," Leonard agreed. "Now, I'm good to go."

"Alright, well, I gotta get these menus to the manager. Later!" Zack said, turning to head back into restaurant. "I look forward to the wedding."

Leonard frowned. "Oh...yeah, I guess you're invited."

The experimental physicist groaned once Zack was out of sight. So much for tonight going well.


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, I'm moving out."

Leonard sighed in exasperation as Sheldon hurried down the hall towards his bedroom, probably to start packing. When he and Penny had returned home from their date, he'd made an excuse to stop at 4A so he could stash the ring back under his bed and had planned to go over to Penny's apartment right afterwards; however, when he'd entered his apartment he'd found Sheldon, Howard, Raj, Bernadette, and Amy-this time in the flesh-all waiting for him. So, he'd been forced to recount the events of the evening.

Raj leaned over from his spot on the couch and began whispering in Howard's ear. "Well, he's not moving in with me either!" Howard snapped. The engineer turned to face Leonard. "Why couldn't you have just proposed after Zack left? It would've saved us all a lot of pain."

Leonard opened his mouth to defend himself, but Sheldon interrupted him with his return. "Leonard, have you seen my Geiger counter?" The theoretical physicist now had his pre-packed disaster evacuation bag slung over his shoulder.

"No one's moving out, Sheldon," the experimental physicist sighed.

"Of course I am," Sheldon argued. "I gave you a deadline and you refused to meet it. As a result, I'm moving out."

"Sheldon-"

"Don't Sheldon me. If you had simply bucked up and proposed regardless of Penny's ex-boyfriend being there, then we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Actually, Sheldon," said Amy. "I believe that your roommate acted wisely." Leonard raised an eyebrow. He wasn't used to receiving praise from the neurobiologist. "The pitiful ring Leonard purchased coupled with Zack's smouldering presence"-Sheldon frowned slightly-"would not have yielded positive results when he got down on one knee." Well, it hadn't come in the nicest form, but it was still praise.

"So, when _are_ you going to propose, Leonard?" Bernadette asked, clearly eager to have all the details.

"I don't know," he sighed. He really didn't. He'd picked out the perfect place, the perfect time, but it had all been ruined. What was he supposed to do now? He didn't want to just go back to the same place tomorrow and try again until he got it right. But then, he had no idea where else or how else he should propose. No idea how to make it special.

* * *

><p>Leonard entered the apartment building and then headed towards his mailbox. His right hand was shoved in his pocket, keeping a tight grasp on the little, velvet box that held the engagement ring. He'd been carrying it around with him for the past three days. Sheldon, who had decided to visit his mother in Texas for the week as opposed to moving out, had given him a new deadline, one that involved him proposing before the theoretical physicist's return. Still having no clue as to how he would pop the question, Leonard had been bringing the ring everywhere, just in case, by pure luck, he was presented with a good time.<p>

As the experimental physicist made his way towards the stairs, Penny entered the lobby. "Hey," she said, putting a hand on his arm and kissing his cheek.

"Hey," he said back, grinning. "Where were you?"

"I was hanging out with Amy and Bernadette," she explained, taking his hand as they started up the stairs. "You know, they still won't tell me the secret." Penny looked at him pointedly, though there was a glimmer of playfulness in her eyes. "So, you could still be the first to let me in on it," she said temptingly.

Leonard smirked and rolled his eyes at her. Her anger at being kept out of the loop had died down significantly since her outburst when Leonard had ruined her attempt to weasel information out of Sheldon. Now she seemed to be trying to mention the secret whenever she could, hoping that something would slip out eventually. While she remained suspicious as ever, Leonard was just happy to be on good terms with her again. Proposing while his girlfriend was mad at him didn't seem like the best idea.

They rounded the corner on the second floor and then made their way up to the third floor. During their ascent, the couple continued talking; Penny making more subtle comments about the secret and Leonard playfully shaking his head at each of her attempts. Leonard loved these moments with Penny. Joking, holdings hands, and simply enjoying each other's company made him so happy. It was perfect.

He stopped dead in his tracks just a few steps shy of the fourth floor. Penny, who hadn't realized that her boyfriend had come to halt, made it to the top of the stairs before turning to see him behind her, holding on tightly to her now-outstretched arm.

"Coming?" she asked, amused.

Leonard shook his head to clear it. "Um...yeah," he replied, hurrying up the last few steps to join her at the top. He hesitated before continuing, looking down at his shoes and then back up at her. "I'll tell you the secret now."

"Really?" Penny asked excitedly, her face lighting up.

Leonard nodded. "Yeah. Now is as good a time as any." _No_ he thought. Now wasn't as good a time as any; now was much better than any other time or place he could've thought of. Right now, caught up in the realization of just how happy she made him and just how badly he wanted this, made now the perfect time.

He tossed the mail in his hand to the floor just in front of the door, and then cleared his throat. "Okay," he said. He paused for a moment and then repeated the word, trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

"Oh come on! Just tell me!" Penny said. She placed her hands on his chest in anticipation, bringing her face much closer to his.

Leonard cocked his head slightly. He said the only words he could think of. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied. She grinned at him, though she looked a tad confused now.

Leonard gave a small nod. "Good." Then he put his hands on her shoulders, pulling her to him, and firmly put his lips on hers. He had kissed her like this before, right before their first date when they'd opened the box to see if the cat was alive, if the sparks were there or not. Now, they had both known for a very long time that that cat was more alive than ever; Leonard just wanted to re-establish that one last time before he got down on one knee.

When he ended the kiss, Leonard opened his eyes to see that Penny's were still closed, her lips slightly parted as she exhaled deeply. He'd seen that look before. That look that encouraged him even more was what was bringing him closer and closer to the ground until he was balancing on one knee.

As his hand fumbled in his pocket for the ring, Leonard heard Penny gasp. When he looked up at her, he saw that a hand had gone to her mouth. Her wide eyes locked on his, giving him a look he couldn't quite describe nor know if it was good or bad. Regardless, he held her gaze. He held out the little black, velvet box for her to see and then opened it, revealing the sparkling object inside. He spoke quietly, but his voice was clear as he asked, "Penny will you marry me?"

She didn't speak right away. She simply stared down at him, processing what had just happened. The growing silence made Leonard feel just like he had after he'd first told Penny he loved her. He hoped that this time the outcome would be much better.

Penny looked down at her feet for a moment, and, again, Leonard didn't know if he should interpret that action as good or bad; however, when she raised her head she gave him a small smile. "This is the secret?" she asked softly, her eyes glistening.

Leonard smiled at her as he nodded. "This is the secret."

Penny put her hands on her cheeks and shook her head slightly as a smile overtook her face. She then got down on her knees in front of him and put her arms around his neck. "Yes," she sighed happily.

Leonard started to grin, but then stopped himself. He was fairly certain what she meant by "yes", but he wanted to clarify anyway. He cocked his head. "Yes?"

She leaned forward and touched the tip of her nose to his. "Yes, I will marry you."

This time, Leonard allowed himself the smile. "Really?" he asked. His voice sounded higher than usual and he could feel his eyes growing moist, but he didn't care. This was easily the best thing that had ever happened to him, and no amount of crying or voice cracking was going to ruin it.

In response to his question, Penny put her lips on his. Leonard's arms came around her waist, the ring still clutched tightly in his right hand. They kissed for a long time, neither wanting to break the contact. Eventually, though, Leonard pulled away and brought the ring in front of her. He removed the tiny object from the box and then took Penny's left hand so he could place it on her finger.

Penny giggled as she looked at it and then put her hands on his cheeks, pulling him in for another kiss, but then she stopped. Leonard raised a curious eyebrow at her as she took his hands and stood up, pulling him up with her. She glanced back at the door to her apartment and then gave him a mischievous look. Leonard grinned and eagerly let his fiancé drag him across the hall.


	8. Chapter 8

**So, we're shifting more into Penny's view now and the Shamy part of the story is going to start soon. Hope you all enjoy that.**

**And I still own nothing.**

Both Leonard and Penny were breathing heavily by the time it was over, huge grins lighting up their faces. Penny tilted her head to the right to face Leonard and her smile grew even larger as he met her gaze, taking her closest hand in his and bringing it up to his lips. She squeezed his hand in response.

She couldn't believe that this was the secret. During the past few weeks she'd thought up countless possibilities for what it might be, but this...a _proposal_ had never crossed her mind. Penny had expected that the secret was about her, since she hadn't been allowed in on it; however, she'd been anticipating it to be something awful or embarrassing. Not something wonderful like this.

Letting out a contented sigh, Penny grinned at Leonard again, still holding his hand. "We're engaged!" she said excitedly as if he didn't know.

Leonard chuckled. "I know," he said, sitting up so he could move closer to her. He brought a hand up to rest against her cheek, gently moving his thumb back and forth to stroke the side of her face.

Penny smiled at him affectionately, tapping his lower lip with her index finger, and then leaned in to kiss him. "I love you," she said when they broke apart, pressing the tip of her nose against his.

"I love you, too." Wrapping his arms around her, Leonard pulled Penny closer to him and she nestled her head into the crook of his neck.

"So," Penny murmured, resting a hand on Leonard's chest. "When did you decide you wanted to marry me?" She grinned as he tightened his hold on her.

"Well, _technically_, I decided that I wanted that about three or four hours after I first met you," Leonard replied, his chest shaking slightly as he laughed. Penny giggled along with him. "But if you're referring to the moment when I decided I was going to propose," he continued, his fingers beginning to run slowly up and down her arms. "Then it was when we were visiting your family in Nebraska."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "When, for the majority of the visit, my parents were reprimanding my brother for getting in trouble with the law again?"

"Yeah, somewhere in between all that," Leonard joked, grinning. When he gave her the true reason for wanting to marry her, Penny twisted in his arms so her mouth could reach his and she kissed him. She pushed her hand through his hair as she deepened the kiss and Leonard curled his arms tighter around her. Penny grinned into his lips as she continued kissing him. They were engaged; she felt so unbelievably happy.


	9. Chapter 9

Leonard and Penny went to pick Sheldon up from the airport the next day. Clearly not eager to spend any more time with his family than necessary, the theoretical physicist had immediately booked the nearest flight back to Pasadena the minute Leonard had called with the good news.

"Hey, Sheldon. How was Texas?" Penny asked from the passenger seat as the theoretical physicist buckled himself into the back.

"Texas is as it always was," Sheldon replied, sounding slightly confused by her question. "Warm and populated with simple, football-loving, Christian folk."

Penny smiled and rolled her eyes. Sometimes her neighbour's oblivion could be a very amusing trait. Of course, this was probably just due to the fact that she hadn't seen him in a few days. She was certain that by the end of this car ride Sheldon's mannerisms would be back to their annoying self. "Good to hear."

"Not from my stand point," he argued. Leonard gave Penny a smirk as he pulled out of the airport and onto the main road.

She sighed. "Did you at least have a good time?"

"Not particularly," Sheldon replied. "Although I _was_ able to track down my childhood sonic death ray."

Penny glanced at Leonard, whose grip had now tightened on the steering wheel. "Sheldon, please tell me you didn't bring that back with you."

"Sadly no," Sheldon replied. He shook his head in disappointment, missing the small fist pump that Leonard did. "Unfortunately, my mother made me leave it behind. According to her, she and Missy need it in case any wild dogs come near the house." Leonard and Penny smiled at each other. Mrs. Cooper always seemed to be one step ahead. "Speaking of my mother," he continued. "She sends you both her congratulations. So does Missy. And I'm sure my brother would've as well, however, he does not know you and, therefore, the sentiment would not have come across as genuine. Oh, and while we're on the subject"-he leaned forward-"congratulations."

"Aw, thank you, Sheldon." Penny turned in her seat so she could smile at him.

"No, thank you," he said cheerfully, leaning back against his seat. "Because of your engagement I no longer have to suffer the heavy burden of an important secret."

"I still can't believe that you had to go all the way to Texas in order to keep that from me."

Leonard raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? You can't believe that?" She shook her head at him playfully.

The theoretical physicist ignored his roommate. "Yes, well, you can blame Amy Farrah Fowler for turning me into the fiery, little gossip I've become."

Penny frowned and gave Leonard a questioning glance. He merely shrugged in response, just as baffled as she was. She shook her head. Penny supposed it was to be expected; the Shamy _was_ very baffling.

* * *

><p>By the time they reached the apartment and were heading up the stairs, it was late in the evening. They would have gotten home much sooner, however, Sheldon had wanted to stop by the university to pick up some work, and then the comic book store because the latest issue of <em>Flash<em> was out. _Yep_ Penny thought as she trudged up the steps. _It's definitely not amusing anymore._

Upon reaching 4A, both Leonard and Penny were surprised to find their friends gathered in the apartment, laying out dinner on the coffee table.

"Congratulations!" Amy cried excitedly, starting up a string of congratulations from everyone else.

"How did you guys find out?" Penny asked, confused. Except for Sheldon, neither she nor Leonard had told anyone that their engagement was official.

"Sheldon texted us," Howard replied, grinning from ear to ear.

"Speaking of which," said the theoretical physicist in question, stepping forward. "Howard, did you remember to ask that the chicken with broccoli be diced, not shredded?"

The engineer shrugged. "Sure."

"Even though the menu specifies..." Sheldon trailed off and frowned at Howard's vague answer. Howard merely met his frown with a look of innocence. Sheldon hesitantly forged on. "Brown rice not white?"

"Most likely."

"...Did you get the good hot mustard?"

"I think so."

Sheldon turned to look at Leonard. "Please make him stop."

Leonard put his hands up defensively. "Hey, you're the one who asked him to pick up your food."

Penny shook her head in amusement as she made her way over to Amy and Bernadette. Immediately the two girls enveloped her in a hug.

"Oh my God, congratulations," said Bernadette after the three had separated.

Penny grinned. "Thank you."

"Do you like the ring?" Amy asked anxiously. "I was there when he bought it, but I couldn't get him to go for anything better than _this_ little number." She gave the ring a look of disdain.

Penny had to try hard to keep herself from laughing. She couldn't imagine Leonard and Amy ring shopping together. "Don't worry, Amy. I love it."

"It's beautiful," Bernadette agreed, taking Penny's hand to get a closer look.

Howard, who had grown bored of the 'food fight' he'd started, joined their little congregation and ran a critical eye over the ring. "Well, it definitely can't compare to the half a carat beauty I scored, but it's pretty nice." Raj rolled his eyes at the girls behind his friend's back.

"I don't think _anything_ can compare with the ring you got," Penny agreed sarcastically.

"It's beautiful," Bernadette affirmed sincerely, giving her husband's shoulder a squeeze.

"It's alright!" Sheldon cried suddenly. "It _is_ brown rice!"

"Great. We can eat," Leonard sighed as he grabbed a carton of food and sat down in his chair.

"Hang on, I still haven't checked for the low-sodium soy sauce." The group ignored him and followed Leonard's lead.

"So, where did you end up proposing, Leonard?" Bernadette asked.

"Out in the hallway," he replied. Penny looked down at him from where she sat on the arm of his chair and they smiled at each other.

"Really, Leonard?" Howard said, shaking his head. "The _hallway_?"

"Hey," Penny said in a mock-stern tone. "You leave my fiancé alone." Her serious expression immediately melted into a big smile as she said those words. Her fiancé. She was going to enjoy saying that far too much.

"Just to let you know, Leonard," Amy said. "If you ever hurt her"-she pointed at Penny with her fork-"I will personally sneak into your apartment at night and lock you in your room with my smoking monkey, Ricky, so he'll claw your face off." She spoke using a cheerful tone, but seemed to be dead serious.

Leonard frowned and cocked his head. "You have a smoking monkey?"

Now it was Amy's turn to frown. "I think you're missing the point of my threat."

"Amy, you don't have to worry," Penny assured her. "He's not going to hurt me." She smiled at Leonard and then leaned down to give him a quick kiss.

"That's an awfully optimistic thing to say considering he punched you in the heart by-"

"Low sodium soy sauce! Does anyone else need low sodium soy sauce!" Penny said loudly, drowning Amy out. No need to re-visit that unpleasant chapter in the midst of this wonderful one.


	10. Chapter 10

Leonard fiddled mindlessly with his Wii fishing rod while he waited for Sheldon to return. They had been playing when Sheldon had taken a sip of Leonard's water and was now in the bathroom disinfecting...well, probably everything. He felt a little guilty now because Sheldon had actually never taken a sip from Leonard's glass, he'd just been fooling him. The experimental physicist supposed that his boredom over waiting for Sheldon was karma. _Well it was funny when Raj did it_ he grumbled inwardly.

He was about to go check on his roommate, when Howard and Raj entered the apartment. Leonard wasn't exactly thrilled to see the two of them; he'd recently learned that they'd started betting on when Penny would break off their engagement. He supposed it was to be expected; they did that for every new advancement the couple made in their relationship. And anyways, their engagement was barely a week old, so the teasing would die down eventually. Still, that didn't make it any less annoying.

Howard and Raj sat down on the couch, Howard in Sheldon's spot and Raj next to him. Both were grinning from ear to ear. "So, how are things?" Howard asked, sounding a little too eager.

Leonard sighed. _Here it comes._ "Things are great," he replied. "Right now I'm beating Sheldon at Wii fishing and Penny and I are _still_ happily engaged!"

Howard and Raj glanced at each other. "Right, about that," said Howard, clasping his hands together. "I realize that we were wrong to tease you about that and-"

"Hey, I realize that, too!" Raj interrupted, shooting a glare at his best friend.

"Well, I think I came to the realization first-"

"No, if anything we came to that realization at the same time."

Leonard raised an eyebrow as he watched the two argue. He couldn't tell if this was another 'married couple dispute' or something else. Honestly, he wasn't sure which one he'd prefer it be. After listening for a minute longer, he decided to interrupt. "Sorry, what's going on?"

The two froze and looked over at him. Raj shook his head innocently. "Nothing's going on."

"Yep. Nothing," Howard affirmed. "Glad to hear the engagement's still on-speaking of which, have you decided on a best man yet?"

Leonard raised his eyebrows in surprise. What did that have to do with anything? "Um, no. Why?"

"Well, clearly, it's one of the many important decisions you'll have to make in order to pull off this wedding. You know, flowers: red or white?"-he moved his hands up and down as if he were balancing the two items on each one-"Best man: Howard or Raj? Might as well figure that out now, right?"

"You want me decide right now?" Leonard asked, frowning.

The engineer shrugged. "Doesn't have to be _right_ now. You can take a few minutes to think about it first." He leaned in closer. "But, while you're thinking about it, I'd just like to point out that _I _have never laid a hand on your betrothed whereas Raj has-"

Leonard's face contorted into a look of disgust. "God! Really, Howard?"

Raj glared at the engineer. "Not cool, dude."

Howard looked between the two with his mouth moving but no words coming out, clearly stuck. "Oh, come on! You know I'd do the same for you if it were me getting married!" he said desperately.

"No you wouldn't! Raj was the best man at your wedding," Leonard pointed out.

"Damn!" Howard sighed, letting his head fall into his hands. Raj grinned triumphantly. Suddenly, the engineer's head shot back up. "But you bring up an excellent point. Raj has already been a best man, I've never done it! And besides," he continued in a stage whisper. "You're clearly my only shot at this; I'll never get to be a best man for Mr. Selective Mutism."

"Well, now you won't!" Raj snapped. He folded his arms across his chest, clearly offended.

"Forget that," Howard said dismissively. "The point is you should pick _me_ for your best man!"

"No, you should pick me!" Raj argued.

As they started up again, Leonard was reminded of the time they fought over who would win the neighbour battle between Sheldon and Penny. The fighting had nearly outdone the neighbour battle, but that was mainly because whoever won got twenty bucks. He cocked his head slightly, grinning in amusement as he began to understand. "You two have money on this don't you?"

The arguing ceased again and the two glanced at each other. "Well..." Howard said, awkwardly gesturing with his hands. "We may have wagered a couple of dollars on the matter, sure, but who cares?"

Raj nodded. "Yes. The important thing here is that you pick out the best best man for your wedding. Preferably one who has an exotic cultural background and can be of great use when trying to put together an original _and_ entertaining wedding."

"My cultural background would also be very beneficial for that!" Howard interjected.

Leonard leaned his head back in his chair, letting out an irritated sigh as the quarrel grew in decibel level. Whether it was arguing over the position of best man or making bets about when his engagement would crumble, he had a feeling that these two weren't going to be much fun to hang around with for the duration of his engagement to Penny.

"Alright," Sheldon sighed as he came down the hall. "I've done all I can do." He stopped abruptly when he saw Howard and Raj. "Leonard, why is Howard in my spot?"

Leonard rolled his eyes in amusement. "He and Raj are having a fight."

"Well, that's no excuse!" Sheldon snapped.

"Don't worry, I'll get you your spot back," he assured his roommate. He raised his voice so that his quarrelling friends could hear. "Sheldon, would _you _like to be my best man?" This had the desired effect, as both men jumped to their feet and stared at Leonard incredulously. "_What?_" they both cried in unison.

"I want Sheldon to be my best man," Leonard replied a little smugly. He turned to face his roommate. "How 'bout it, Sheldon?"

The theoretical physicist looked rather confused. "Well, I'm sure I'd be your best man for a number of things. For example, when it comes to physics, I'm _clearly_ your best man. The same goes for video games, football, and social interactions"- Leonard frowned at that-"What specifically am I your best man for?"

"For my wedding, Sheldon," Leonard explained. "I want you to be my best man. You know, help me out on the day of the wedding, walk down the aisle with whoever Penny chooses as her maid of honour."

Sheldon was silent a moment before he spoke. "I see. I will have to walk down the aisle with whomever Penny chooses?"

"Sheldon, if this is another touch phobia thing-" Leonard started.

"No, no. Of course not," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Just getting clarification on the job description. Excuse me a moment."

Leonard frowned as Sheldon hurried away down the hall. "That was weird."

Howard and Raj seemed more concerned with other matters. "Well, who gets the money now?" Raj asked.

"I'll take it if it's got nowhere to go," Leonard offered, starting up the Wii fishing game again. When Howard and Raj glared at him, he held up his hands defensively. "Hey, I've got a wedding to pay for!"

* * *

><p>Penny was just entering the apartment lobby after a shift at The Cheesecake Factory when Amy Farrah Fowler jumped out in front of her, eliciting a small yelp of surprise from the waitress.<p>

"Hi, bestie!" Amy said cheerfully. She was all smiles and was clearly oblivious to the fact that she'd nearly given her best friend a heart attack.

"Amy," Penny said breathlessly. "What's going on?"

The neurobiologist's face grew serious as the two women started up the stairs. "We have to talk about something very important."

Penny frowned slightly. "Is there something going on between you and Sheldon?"

"Yes, there is."

Penny stopped dead in her tracks. Although she herself had posed that question many times, she'd never expected that answer. "Now, when you say there's something going on between you and Sheldon..." She raised a questioning eyebrow at her friend, willing her to elaborate.

"I mean there's something going on between me and Sheldon," Amy replied. Her face kept up a cheerful expression, hinting at no double meanings to her words.

Penny shook her head as the neurobiologist continued up the stairs. There was no way. There had definitely been some sort of misunderstanding during the conversation. She hurried after Amy. "Okay. Why don't you just tell me what's going on so that I don't jump to conclusions here."

"What sort of conclusions would you jump to?" Amy asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

Penny waved her hand dismissively. "Never mind. What's going on with you and Sheldon?"

"Leonard has asked Sheldon to be his best man," Amy replied simply as they rounded the corner and started for the third floor.

Penny frowned, leaving all of the possible Shamy scenarios that she'd been forming in her mind behind. "He did?" she asked, rather surprised. Penny knew, obviously, that they'd start planning for their wedding eventually, but they'd only been engaged about a week...she hadn't expected Leonard to begin working these details out so soon.

"Yes," Amy affirmed, interrupting Penny's thoughts.

"Okay. But what does that have to do with you and Sheldon?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The neurobiologist seemed surprised by her lack of understanding.

Penny shook her head. "Not really."

They had reached the fourth floor and Amy came to halt, her face scrunched up in thought as she considered what Penny had said. After a few moments, she shrugged and said, "Oh." Her face regained its cheerful expression. "Well, anyways, if Sheldon's to be Leonard's best man, then I'm going to need to be your maid of honour."

Amy spoke to her as if this was clearly the most obvious and superior solution. Penny saw this idea in a very different light. Of course she loved the quirky neurobiologist to death, and with good reason; no one had been a better friend to her than Amy and Bernadette when she'd been going through the awful Priya situation. But, while Penny had never really given the matter much thought, she had not imagined Amy as her maid of honour. In the back of her mind, she'd always assumed that it would be her sister or her best friend...

"Um," Penny drew the word out for as long as she could, still unsure how to respond. "How does Sheldon being Leonard's best man...," she trailed off, searching for the right words; she didn't want to hurt Amy's feelings by saying the wrong thing. "_Result_ in you..._needing_ to be my maid of honour?"

Amy grinned excitedly. "Once Sheldon discovered that he had been appointed best man, he called me to let me know that he would not take the job unless I was your maid of honour."

"Why?" Penny asked wearily. Of course Sheldon would be behind all this.

"Well, he said that if his counterpart in your wedding was a female whom he did not know and who's thought process did not match his own, then his brain would be sent into disarray and it would take him a long while to recover. Or, if you phrase it like most do, he would lose his mind; however, Sheldon and I have recently decided that it's a rather irritating expression and, therefore, do not use it."

"I see," Penny said through her teeth, folding hers arms across her chest. While Amy hadn't been direct about it, Penny was certain that when Sheldon had given his _ideal counterpart_ this explanation that he had insulted her ability to pick out a suitable maid of honour.

"And don't worry," Amy added. "I texted Bernadette about the situation and she's absolutely fine with me being your maid of honour and not her. Potential jealousy averted!" she said triumphantly. She raised her fist in the air.

Penny just stared. She wanted to set Amy straight right now that she was not going to be her maid of honour, but she couldn't. The neurobiologist's face was lit up with excitement, which Penny knew would crumble into a look of disappointment if she didn't give Amy the job, and all the waitress could think about was her quirky friend never being invited to a slumber party, never having friends, eating lunch alone every day. Would Penny just be depriving Amy of another opportunity?

"So, I'll let Sheldon know I have the job," Amy said, pulling out her phone.

"Um..." Was all Penny could manage before Amy said, "Done!" and put her phone away. "This is going to be great!" she said enthusiastically.

"Great," Penny mumbled. She couldn't do it; there was no way. She couldn't bear the thought of crushing Amy by telling her no. She gave a little sigh. It's not like she had anyone else in mind anyways. Having Amy for a maid of honour would be just fine.

Suddenly Amy threw her arms around Penny and hugged her tightly. Penny couldn't help but give a small smile and she slid her arms around the neurobiologist and hugged back. This would be just fine.


	11. Chapter 11

Penny and Leonard were awoken by the shrill ringing of Leonard's alarm clock. Penny's eyes opened slowly and she blinked a few times as she took in the noise. She turned her head to look at the screaming clock and let out a groan when she saw how early it was.

"Leonard," she mumbled groggily, shutting her eyes and turning her head back into her pillow. "Saturday. Don't set alarm."

"I didn't," he protested, his voice muffled against the pillow he'd buried his face in.

_Well, I sure as hell didn't set it_ she thought irritably. Penny let out a sigh, too tired to argue over the matter. "Whatever. Just turn it off."

"I can't; I'm sleeping."

"Leonard!" she whined. She began weakly batting at his left arm-which was draped over her stomach-with her left hand.

"You do it. You're closer." He raised his left hand and snatched up hers, preventing Penny from continuing her attack.

Penny lazily began trying to free herself, tugging against Leonard's grip. But he held on tightly, simply following wherever she pulled her hand. Their locked hands went back and forth, both forgetting about the alarm as they became more invested in the little fight.

The battle was interrupted just as both their other hands entered the fray. Sheldon, surprisingly already dressed and groomed for the day despite the hour, entered the room, clearly irritated. He approached the alarm clock and quickly shut it off.

Penny rolled her eyes in amusement. "Sorry, Sheldon. Leonard set the alarm by mistake." She turned to give her fiancé a teasing grin.

"I didn't do it," he repeated, letting go of her hands to hold his up defensively.

"Well of course you didn't," Sheldon said irritably. "You only ever set your alarm on work days, which is why I had to set it."

Penny and Leonard glanced at each other. "You set it?" Leonard asked, frowning.

"Yes, I just said tha- I'm sorry, we don't have the time for this conversation," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Now, out of bed. Both of you." He snapped his fingers at them and then motioned towards the door.

"Why?" Penny asked, sitting up.

Sheldon let out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. "Again, no time. Just shower-well, no, there's really no time for showering. So just, shirt, shoes, and..." He trailed off and narrowed his eyes, re-thinking his word choice. Then he shook his head again and said, "Just shirt, shoes, and...oh, just meet me in the living room!"

"Well, that was weird," Penny said once Sheldon had exited the bedroom. Leonard nodded in agreement.

Penny sighed and then sank back down onto the bed, shifting her weight so she could snuggle closer to Leonard. Whatever Sheldon needed them for, she had no interest in when it wasn't even six in the morning yet. She would deal with him when she'd actually gotten a sufficient amount of sleep. _And, hey! He turned off the alarm_ she realized, grinning.

"Shouldn't we go see what he wants?" Leonard asked.

She let out another sigh. "I can't; I'm sleeping."

"You realize he's just going to come back and-"

_Knock, knock, knock _ "Leonard and Penny?"

_Knock, knock, knock _"Leonard and Penny?"

_Knock, knock, knock _"Leonard and Penny?"

She really _should_ have seen that coming. "Ugh. Fine!" she grumbled, reluctantly getting out of bed.

It only took them a few minutes to get ready, but that didn't stop Sheldon from knocking two more times while he waited outside the door.

"Oh, good, you're up," he said cheerfully, much to Penny's annoyance as they exited Leonard's bedroom.

"Okay, Sheldon," Leonard said, stifling a yawn. "What's so important?"

The theoretical physicist didn't reply, he simply began ushering them down the hallway. Penny was surprised to find Amy sitting in the living room. She, like Sheldon, looked far too chipper and energized for this 'ungodly' hour. The elaborate board that Sheldon had used before their trip out to Big Sur was also set up. Remembering the fun they'd had the last time Sheldon had used it didn't help to brighten Penny's mood.

"Morning, bestie!" Amy greeted her with a huge grin.

Penny returned it with a small smile as she made her way to the kitchen, now in desperate need of coffee-though she wasn't sure even coffee could help her keep up with the Shamy this morning.

"No, no time for coffee!" Sheldon scolded them, pulling the coffee pot out of Leonard's reach. "We have to get started!"

"Start what, Sheldon?" Leonard asked warily, bringing a hand up to his forehead.

"The first official meeting of planning your wedding," Amy replied, getting up to join them at the kitchen counter.

Penny raised her eyebrows and glanced at Leonard. He looked equally surprised. Why the hell did Sheldon and Amy care about planning their wedding? She knew Amy was excited, but Penny did not believe that anyone, Amy Farrah Fowler included, was capable of convincing Sheldon to participate any more than he had to in a wedding. The fact that he'd agreed to be Leonard's best man was already shocking enough!

"Um, we haven't really started planning yet," Leonard said, frowning in confusion.

"Well, of course you haven't!" Sheldon said, shaking his head in exasperation. "This is the _first _official meeting of planning the wedding. There have been no other meetings prior to this one; therefore, nothing regarding the wedding has been planned. Excluding, of course, the planning to have the first official meeting of planning the wedding." Amy and Sheldon snickered at that; Penny, on the other hand, wasn't finding it that amusing.

Sheldon and Amy motioned for Leonard and Penny to join them in the sitting area. As they sat down on the couch, Sheldon turned on the board and a white screen with the words _The First Official Meeting of Planning Leonard and Penny's Wedding _written in large, bold letters appeared.

"Alright," said Sheldon. "Given that I am Leonard's best man and Amy is Penny's maid of honour, the two of us have teamed up in order to create, if I may quote Amy, "the most extravagant wedding ever witnessed by mankind"." Amy smiled, giving Penny a thumbs up. Penny gave her a small smile and then returned the gesture, although she didn't like where this was going. She still didn't understand why Sheldon was going to all this trouble, even if he was the best man. This was not the whackadoodle neighbour she'd grown accustomed to. "And if I may add," Sheldon continued. "This will also be the fastest wedding mankind has ever seen, as I do not wish to spend any more time on this than necessary." There he was.

"Hang on," said Leonard. "You both realize that there's a difference between a wedding planner and the best man and maid of honour, right?"

"True," Amy agreed. "However, the job description of maid of honour and best man is to facilitate things for the bride and groom by offering moral support and taking care of things for the couple. In this case, we figured that paying a professional wedding planner would merely hit our budget with a devastating blow. Therefore, we decided that the easiest way to go about things would be to plan your wedding ourselves." Penny stared wide eyed at the neurobiologist. She'd barely even thought about when she and Leonard would get married, and Sheldon and Amy were already making cuts to account for their budget? Which brought up another good question.

"How do you guys even know what our budget is?" she asked. Penny swore if Sheldon had somehow managed to get into her bank account then he was in for some Nebraskan fury.

"We've only made an estimation based on both of your salaries," Sheldon replied. "At the moment, the only thing in your budget would be flowers; however, I'm given to understand that we'll have some parental aid when it comes to funding?" Sheldon looked at them expectantly.

"Sheldon, we haven't even told our parents yet," Leonard pointed out. He sounded impatient. Penny could understand why. The Shamy self-electing themselves as wedding planners was one thing, but paying for their wedding was another scary matter entirely. She figured that her parents would help them out a little-her father would probably be dying to contribute to their wedding in whatever way possible-but she had no idea how Leonard's parents would feel about donating money to an event that was solely based on romance, even if it was their own son's.

"Not true," Sheldon argued. "I called your mother last week and told her."

"What? Why?" Leonard asked incredulously, sitting up.

Sheldon furrowed his brow, clearly confused over Leonard's anger. "It was important news; I thought it was pertinent that I share it with her."

"Did you ever consider that it was important news that _I _wanted to share with her?" Leonard demanded.

The theoretical physicist stared at his roommate for a moment and then turned to Amy. "They seem to be turning on us. I vote we break for ten minutes and then try again."

The neurobiologist sighed, but nodded in agreement. "Alright, but if you'd have let me start off with a rousing game of Counterfactuals, then I think we'd all be in a much happier place right now."

* * *

><p>"No, mother, I'm just wondering why you didn't call me after Sheldon told you...yes, I know I didn't call you either, but I was going to."<p>

Penny winced slightly as Leonard sighed, wearily bringing a hand to his face. She and Leonard had immediately made a break for it as soon as Sheldon and Amy had gone to Sheldon's room to do some further planning during the break. They'd ended up going out for breakfast, not wanting to hide at Penny's apartment or someplace else Sheldon and Amy would think of for risk of being found. They were also both starving, but avoiding the Shamy was priority one at the moment.

Now Leonard was on the phone with his mother, still rather annoyed that Sheldon had been the one to bring their engagement to her attention. Based on how he was reacting, Penny assumed that Beverley wasn't all that pleased either.

Penny felt another twinge of sympathy as Leonard began rambling. He rambled whenever he was getting nervous or stressed, and while she couldn't hear what his mother was saying on the other end, she could guess that she'd backed her son into a corner and he was having a hard time getting himself out of it.

She stabbed at the scrambled eggs on her plate in frustration. She was angry. Angry at Sheldon and Amy. She knew that they had the best intentions in planning their wedding, but she really didn't care at the moment. The two of them had taken complete control of the event without even consulting her or Leonard. That's the part Penny really hated. The loss of control. The wedding was hers and Leonard's, not Sheldon and Amy's. They were supposed to be the ones who decided what they wanted and how they wanted their wedding be. And, now suddenly, wedding plans and budgets were being thrust in their faces. It was too much all at once.

Penny's attention was brought back to the phone conversation when Leonard hung up his cell phone and placed it on the table. He looked anxious, more so than he usually did after he'd talked to his mother. He met her gaze and she smiled at him sympathetically. "That bad, huh?"

Leonard shrugged. "Surprisingly better than usual, actually." He leaned back in his chair, not elaborating. He thrummed his fingers mindlessly on the table for a moment before he spoke again. "So...Sheldon and Amy as wedding planners...should be interesting."

Penny chuckled a little, surprised. "Well, I mean...we're not actually going to let them plan it, are we?" She found his lack of response disturbing. "Are we?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"Well..." he trailed off and then looked back at her after a moment. "It could be fun..." He sounded more hopeful than serious. Hopeful that should buy into what he'd said. She didn't. "Okay," he sighed, clasping his hands together. "When Sheldon called my mother to tell her about the wedding, he mentioned that he and Amy would be planning it. Because of that, my mother's actually pretty interested now; she's even sending us money-well, she's sending Sheldon the money since she thinks he's planning it, and...yeah." Leonard, who hadn't been looking at her during his explanation, glanced cautiously at her.

Realizing that he was looking for a response from her, she slowly began to speak. "Okay," she said, trying to make sure she clearly understood the situation. "So...you think she'll take the money back if we don't hire-or fire, I guess-Sheldon and Amy?"

"Well, there's that, and..." He looked down at his hands. "Given the circumstances, it sounds like she actually wants to come."

Penny immediately reached for one of his hands and squeezed it. She hadn't thought about it like that. "Aw, sweetie," she said sympathetically. "You don't think she'd come otherwise?"

Leonard shrugged. "I don' know. Unless it was for science fairs or other events regarding physics or subjects she deemed important, she rarely attended events or celebrations I was involved in. I don't think she'd make an exception for a wedding..."

But she had. And whether it was dependent upon the Shamy planning the wedding or not, she knew Leonard didn't want to risk anything. Penny sighed. As annoying as it would be having Sheldon and Amy-two people who were already rather controlling-have control over their wedding, she could understand Leonard wanting to have his mother there. She'd be devastated if her own mom didn't attend their wedding and, unlike Leonard, she had a good relationship with her mother.

Sheldon and Amy as wedding planners...that would definitely be interesting.


	12. Chapter 12

Penny, Amy, and Bernadette were sitting at a restaurant table, sipping at the water their server had brought them. They were meeting the guys there for dinner, but the four scientists were running a bit late. Penny didn't really mind; it was nice to spend some time with just her girls, especially since they didn't have as many _cah-razy_ nights anymore.

"So, Bernadette," Amy said after taking a sip from her glass of water. "How did your date with Howard go last night?"

The microbiologist frowned in confusion. "How did you know about that?"

"Howard tweeted about it last night," Amy explained. "Since he made no follow-up tweets, I assumed that the night led to love-making and he was too preoccupied to update his twitter account."

Penny couldn't help but giggle as Bernadette nearly choked on her water. Sometimes Amy's inappropriate comments-when they weren't about her-could be very amusing.

"No, Amy we did not...engage in any of that," Bernadette hurriedly assured her. "It wasn't even really a date; we spent the evening with his mother."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "Sounds pleasant," she said sarcastically.

Bernadette smiled and shook her head. "It wasn't all that bad. Actually, it was pretty fun. Howard's mother and I spent most of the night grilling Howard about his job."

Penny smirked. "Well, that's better than how I bond with my fiance's mother." She shook her head at the memory. Bad Penny. Although, recently she had toyed with the idea of going out for a drink with Beverly again in order to make some minor changes to who was in charge of the wedding, but that plan had too many possible outcomes to be worth trying out.

"Speaking of Dr. Hofstadter," Amy said. "Sheldon told me that the money she promised for the wedding arrived today. We'll have to have another meeting to decide on how we want to spend it."

Penny just nodded, not wanting to dwell too long on the subject. When the first official meeting of planning the wedding had actually happened, it had been extremely nerve-racking. Sheldon and Amy had ideas about everything and were eager to get things done quickly and efficiently. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but Penny would much rather they moved at a slower pace.

"Another meeting?" Bernadette asked, furrowing her brow in confusion. "What are you having meetings for?"

"Sheldon and I are Leonard and Penny's official wedding planners," Amy explained. She gave the microbiologist a confused look. "Didn't you read about it in my blog?"

"Um...no. I-I must have missed that one," Bernadette said awkwardly.

"You should read it; it was excellent," Amy said. "Right, bestie?"

"Oh, yeah. Excellent. Definitely excellent." Penny and Bernadette shared a look as Amy grinned. They really had to start making more of an effort to read that blog once in awhile.

Thankfully, the guys entered the restaurant then, sparing Penny and Bernadette from fabricating more comments about the blog.

"Hey," Leonard said. Penny smiled in response and the two leaned in for a quick kiss as he sat down next to her.

"So," said Howard, pulling up a chair next to Bernadette. "What are we talking about?"

Sheldon frowned at the engineer. "We were discussing the differences between The Green Lantern and The Green Arrow," he replied, confused. "Even without a doctorate, Howard, I thought you were capable of remembering such short-term things."

Howard rolled his eyes. "I meant I wanted to know what _they _were talking about," he explained, gesturing to the girls.

"Oh," Sheldon said. "Well, unless their conversation has to do with the different types of kryptonite, then I think we should continue with our conversation."

"Actually, Sheldon, we were discussing having another wedding planning meeting to discuss our budget," Amy said.

Howard frowned. "Wait, what's going on?"

Amy threw her hands up in annoyance. "Does anyone read my blog?"

"He doesn't know what he's missing out on," Bernadette quickly assured her.

"Sheldon and Amy are sort of helping us plan our wedding," Leonard explained.

Howard's jaw dropped and he glanced at Raj, who looked equally shocked. "You asked the two of them for help?" he asked.

"Well, not exactly," Penny said, wringing her hands. "They sort of volunteered."

"Volunteered?" Sheldon asked, surprised. "This is one of the many obligations of the best man and maid of honour." He quickly launched into his and Amy's explanation for taking it upon themselves to plan the wedding, throwing in the part about Leonard's mother as well.

Much to Penny's annoyance, Howard was grinning from ear to ear by the time Sheldon had finished speaking. He turned to look at her and Leonard. "You lucky ducks."

Penny glared at him. She would've added "Bite me" but she didn't for fear of hurting Amy's feelings. Unlike Sheldon, the neurobiologist was beginning to pick up on these sorts of things.

"So, have you guys already decided on a date for the wedding, then?" Bernadette asked.

"We have," Amy replied before either Leonard or Penny could. "April twelfth."

Raj leaned over to whisper something to Howard. The engineer grinned. "Aw, he's excited. In six months, you'll be the Hofstadters."

Penny and Leonard smiled at each other as Raj gave them a thumbs up. That was definitely the one thing to look forward to among all of this crazy planning.

"Sheldon," Amy said suddenly from behind the menu she was skimming. "Did you notice these prices?" Sheldon picked up his own menu and began look through it. He frowned and Amy nodded in response. "This is going to poke a nice hole in our budget."

Leonard raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?" he asked, hesitantly peeking inside his menu. Penny looked over at his. The prices here weren't all that high. A few things were a little expensive, but she doubted that she or Leonard would be getting the lobster anyways. "These prices are fine," Leonard argued.

"Sure, these prices are fine," Sheldon said with great exaggeration. "So, long as you don't want the guests at your wedding to have meals, we might as well order five well-done steaks!"

Amy nodded in agreement. "We're going to have to start mapping out how the two of you spend your money," she told them.

Penny sighed. Yet another thing she didn't get to keep track of herself. Leonard slid an arm around her shoulders and began running his hand up and down her arm. It helped, but only a little. She sighed again. Six months until they were the Hofstadters. It was going to be a long six months.


	13. Chapter 13

**Times going to be moving more quickly now and the next few chapters will be taking place over the span of a month, just to give a heads up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Penny pasted a smile on her face as she said goodbye to the family she'd been waiting on. She hoped they couldn't tell how forced her enthusiasm was. It had been a long day; she'd been working for the past eight hours-which wasn't out of the ordinary; however, it was the new night shifts tending the bar tacked on to those eight hours that was the main cause of exhaustion. The extra hours were part of Sheldon and Amy's wondrous budget plan. A part of Penny had thought they were joking, which, really, had been a mistake on her part; it's not like Sheldon had said bazinga after suggesting it.

She sighed as she picked up her tip from the family. It was a decent tip, no worse, but also no better than usual. She'd been hoping for a little more, though, considering she'd actually put out the effort to be extra cheerful. Penny shrugged off her disappointment and then went to get a busboy for the table. More money was still more money, regardless of how much.

Penny met Bernadette when she went into the break room. She gave the other waitress a smile. "Heading out?"

Bernadette nodded. "Howard's picking me up. Do you need a ride?"

"Yes, actually," Penny said. "I didn't drive today." She continued when Bernadette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Yet another money saving tactic in Sheldon's budget plan. He and Amy did the math, and gas prices are definitely not helping pay for our wedding. So, now Leonard drives me to work, but since we don't end at the same time, I'm stuck walking home."

Bernadette shook her head in disbelief. "Aren't they getting a bit carried away?"

Penny put her palms up and shrugged. "I don't know. The wedding is going to be expensive. I mean, I have no savings, and even though Leonard has some money saved up, and our parents gave us some, we're still in a tight situation and..." she trailed off and shrugged again. "This really is the best option, no matter how annoying. Besides," she added as the two of them headed for the door. "It's best to just keep them happy; it's easier that way."

Bernadette merely shrugged, as if to say, "If you say so."

Penny didn't continue with the discussion, not wanting to go further into the details about the Shamy conundrum. In the month that they'd started planning the wedding, she'd constantly struggled to convince herself that Sheldon and Amy helping them out was not such a bad thing. And, on the whole, it wasn't that bad, it was just the fact that the Shamy were basically planning her every move for the next five months that dragged her down... She knew that talking to Bernadette about it would just make her more aware of how tiresome it was, so she dropped the matter.

The waitress shook her head as they entered the parking lot. Dwelling on the negative didn't really help keep her optimism up either. She figured she should start a new topic. "Howard's not picking us up in his Vespa, right?" The three of them riding that little contraption would not end well.

* * *

><p>Leonard was straining the spaghetti into the sink when Penny entered 4A. "Hey," he said, not daring to break eye contact with the task at hand. Spaghetti was one of the few dishes he could cook without any mistakes; he wasn't about to push his luck by diverting his focus. "Dinner's almost ready."<p>

"Did you remember to put the noodles in _after_ letting the water boil?" Penny asked.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't make that mistake again." Alright, so even with spaghetti he sometimes made a few errors, but that just gave him even more reason not to chance anything. He didn't need his whackadoodle roommate getting upset over the dinner.

Sheldon and Amy had recently decided that, in order to save even more money, cooking dinner at least twice a week instead of buying it would be very beneficial. Leonard had tried to argue that if he accidentally started a fire due to his less-than-superior cooking skills, then that would just lose them money, however, that had just caused the theoretical physicist to suggest he tag along to one of Raj's cooking classes, so he'd put the argument to rest.

Leonard smiled as he felt Penny's arms slide around his stomach. It was when she rested her chin on his shoulder and sighed that the smile weakened. He felt bad for her. In terms of Sheldon and Amy's budget plan, she'd been hit much harder than he had, working extra hours almost every day and walking to work. It always left her exhausted and irritable when it came time for the wedding planning sessions, something that was already tiring and irritating.

"Rough day?" he asked, placing the spaghetti on the counter.

"Meh," she said. "Work was fine; it was walking that was rough."

"Don't you usually get a ride with Bernadette?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't work on Wednesdays."

"Oh." Leonard twisted in his arms to face her, wrapping his own around her waist. "Sorry about all this." She shrugged, giving him a small smile. He sighed inwardly. He knew Penny had been trying to remain positive about the whole wedding planning and budget situation, but he could tell how stressed she really was underneath the facade. He'd heard that wedding planning was supposed to be stressful, but having Sheldon and Amy thrown into the mix surely amplified that stress to a much worse extent.

He smiled suddenly, upon realizing something. "There is some good news regarding the wedding, though," he said. "Sheldon and Amy secured a location for our wedding."

The news had the desired effect on Penny and she grinned. Choosing the venue for their wedding had been one of the more strenuous discussion topics during the planning sessions; finally having it out of the way would certainly lift some weight off of everyone's shoulders.

Penny suddenly looked suspicious. "Is the venue actually on the list of locations we gave Sheldon and Amy?"

Leonard grinned and nodded, now even more grateful that his roommate had respected their choices. "Yep, the _Pasadena Museum of California Art_," he said. "We're supposed to check it out this weekend. Sheldon and Amy have to come, too because of the budget and all, but-"

Leonard broke off as Penny tightened her hold on him in order to give him a proper hug, grinning from ear to ear. He smiled as well. He'd made her happy-he hadn't completely gotten rid of all the stress, but he'd made her happy, and he counted that as a victory.

* * *

><p>Penny stared, open-mouthed as she looked around the museum hall. The place was gorgeous. She and Leonard had looked through the brochure for it already, but actually standing in the hall made it seem much more beautiful. Or perhaps it was just what the room signified that caused such an effect. At the moment, the large hall held numerous displays, but when all that was cleared away, replaced by rows of chairs and decorations, this would be the place where she and Leonard got married. Penny grinned at Leonard, who was standing next to her, and he took her hand and squeezed it.<p>

They'd managed to sneak away from Sheldon and Amy, not wanting to associate themselves with the two for fear that they'd be kicked out once the Shamy had started interrogating the museum staff about their ventilation system.

Suddenly, Leonard began leading Penny by the hand towards the back wall of the hall.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He came to stop a few feet away from the wall and smiled at her. "Approximately here," he said, taking her by the shoulders and placing her a few inches farther away. "And approximately here,"-he moved to stand in front of her- "is where the two of us will be standing when we get married."

Penny smiled at him, but then frowned. "Isn't the ceremony taking place on that end of hall?" she asked, pointing to the wall opposite the one they stood in front of.

Penny giggled as Leonard rolled his eyes, taking her by the hand once again and bringing her to the other side of the room. They grinned at each other once they were properly positioned again.

Penny slid her arms around his neck and smiled at him mischievously. "And this is approximately how I'm going to kiss you when we get married," she said before putting her lips on his. She felt Leonard's arms wrap around her waist as he kissed her back, and she smiled.

"Sheldon, I found them!" Leonard and Penny broke apart upon hearing Amy's voice. The neurobiologist was standing in the hall's entrance and was quickly joined by Sheldon, who looked a tad irritated.

"Well, I'm not sure about the credibility of this museum's staff," Sheldon said. "But on the whole, this location should do nicely."

"Glad you think so," Leonard said, only a little sarcastic.

Sheldon nodded to him and then continued. "But now we need to get going or we'll be late for the meeting."

Penny frowned. "We're having _another_ planning session after this?"

"No," Amy replied. "What Sheldon is referring to is the costume meeting we'll be having to prepare for Stuart's Halloween party."

"God, does every event require a meeting now?" Penny muttered as they left the hall. "And, Amy, I thought you didn't wear costumes."

"I don't," the neurobiologist agreed. "But, participating in the costume party was the only way to get Sheldon on board with planning the wedding."

Sheldon and Amy continued walking, but Leonard and Penny came to a stop and glanced at each other.

"Does this whole Sheldon-wedding planner thing suddenly make sense to you?" Leonard asked, frowning.

Penny nodded. "Uh huh." Only her bestie was capable of pulling that off, she thought.


	14. Chapter 14

"Congratulations are in order," Sheldon said cheerily as he turned on his high-tech board.

"Why is that?" Penny asked from where she sat on the couch next to Leonard.

"We've reached the five month mark completely on schedule," Amy replied excitedly.

Penny was about to ask how they would not have made it one month without staying completely on schedule. Given Sheldon and Amy's specific instructions and planning, it seemed impossible to go one day without staying on schedule. But, she could see that the two were clearly thrilled about this accomplishment and decided not to spoil it by asking.

"Yes, and now that we've eased into the five month mark, it's time to get down to the difficult stuff," Sheldon continued, grabbing his black marker as the board turned on.

Leonard and Penny glanced at each other. "_Eased in_?" Leonard asked incredulously.

"Yes, eased in," Sheldon affirmed. "And now it's crunch time." The theoretical physicist moved through the various slides on the screen until he came to one with a large to-do list on it.

Sheldon was about to continue, but he was interrupted when Howard, Raj, and Bernadette entered the apartment.

"Okay, we're here. Where's the cake?" Howard asked, both he and Raj looking around for it.

"Cake?" Penny asked, raising an eyebrow.

The engineer nodded. "Sheldon told us that if we came to the meeting, then there'd be cake."

"Howard, I said there _might_ be cake," Sheldon corrected him.

Amy nodded in agreement. "It's true, that's what he said. I was there."

Raj quickly moved towards Howard to whisper something in his ear. Howard nodded once his friend had finished speaking. "Yeah, so is there cake?"

"No," Sheldon replied, earning sighs of irritation from the engineer and astrophysicist.

"Why would there have been cake?" Leonard spoke up, frowning.

"Picking out a wedding cake is on our November to-do list," Amy explained, gesturing to the board where the words _wedding cake_ were written. "However, we will not be tackling that today."

"So, what _are _we here for?" Bernadette asked, taking a seat on the arm of the white chair that Howard had sat down in.

"The reason you're all here," Sheldon replied. "Is that, unfortunately, the time has come to pick out and order everyone's attire."

The pained expression on her neighbour's face almost made Penny burst out laughing. If shopping for clothes was what Sheldon considered the "difficult stuff", then she might actually enjoy the next five months of planning.

"Now," the theoretical physicist continued. "This is a map of the mall we'll be shopping at next weekend." Sheldon brought up the slide of the map and then grabbed his marker. He circled a spot on the map. "We'll start here-

"Hang on," Penny interrupted. "You're _literally _mapping out our shopping day?"

"Yes," he replied matter-of-factly and then continued with his explanation.

Or maybe the next five months would be just as stressful as the first.

* * *

><p>"I must say, I'm a tad disappointed," Amy informed the group of girls as they walked down the hallway of the mall. They'd finished dress shopping and were heading back to meet up with the boys whom they'd separated from to shop. This was partly due to the fact that each group needed to go to a different store, but mainly because ever since Penny had helped him pick out a suit, Sheldon had resolved to never go clothes shopping with her again. Frankly, Penny didn't mind.<p>

"Why?" Penny asked, frowning at the neurobiologist.

"I was expecting shopping for the bridal gown and bridesmaids' dresses to be a much more dangerous and adrenaline-rush-inducing activity," she explained.

"Dangerous and adrenaline-rush-inducing?" Cheryl asked, her face contorting into an expression of pure confusion. Being one of Penny's bridesmaids, Cheryl had also come along, much to Sheldon's dismay. According to the whackadoodle, since the other waitress had not attended their planning session, she would be at a total loss if one of the many emergencies he'd planned for took place. To ease that worry, Penny had simply promised Sheldon that, should rodents infest the mall, she'd get Cheryl to the pre-planned exit.

"Yes," Amy affirmed, only making Cheryl look more confused. "I was anticipating a large crowd of woman brawling over wedding dresses with such ferocity and desperation you'd think the apocalypse were on its way. Like you see on television or in those romantic comedies that Penny and Bernadette find so appealing."

Both Penny and Bernadette smirked, while Cheryl remained in her little bubble of puzzlement. "There's a romantic comedy about the apocalypse?" Penny smiled and shook her head at the other waitress.

They soon reached the large fountain that acted as their meeting place, and found the boys already there. Judging by the way Sheldon flinched every time the water that was shot from the fountain came crashing back into the pool, he was regretting his choice of making the fountain the rendezvous point.

Penny grinned at Leonard once they reached the fountain. "How'd it go?" she asked.

"Good," he replied, grinning as he kissed her cheek.

"Agreed," Sheldon said. "The tux he picked out was only one colour, but it should suffice."

"Good to hear," Penny said, smiling.

"Alright, Howard, as promised, here is the cake." Sheldon stood in front of the engineer, who was sitting in the white arm chair, and opened the lid of a thin, cardboard box, revealing various slices of cake.

"You promised cake three weeks ago," Howard pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Hang on, I didn't make any promises-"

"Then, why did you just say "as promised"?"

Penny smirked as the theoretical physicist twitched. It'd been a long month of planning; it was even starting to mess with Dr. Cooper's beautiful mind.

Sheldon then frowned, crossing his arms. "Do you want cake or not?"

The engineer rolled his eyes, but then nodded and reached a hand toward the box; however, Sheldon quickly snapped the box shut and brought it to the coffee table.

"Hey!" Howard protested, holding his hands up in confusion. Raj, who had also been eager to get his hands on a slice, did the same.

"Don't worry, you'll get your cake," Sheldon assured them. "I just need to go over some ground rules, first."

Leonard cocked his head. "Ground rules for eating _cake_?" he asked incredulously.

His roommate nodded, unfazed by the criticism he was receiving. "The cake will be distributed like so," he explained, picking the box up again. He moved to stand in front of Penny. "Penny will take a slice of cake, eat _one _bite, pass the slice onto Leonard, who will pass the slice onto Amy, who will pass the slice onto Raj, and so on. Then, Penny will take another slice and repeat the pattern." He then turned to look at Wolowitz. "Do you understand what I'm doing here, Howard?"

"Yeah, you're taking the fun out of eating cake," he grumbled.

Sheldon narrowed his eyes as his friends began chuckling. "What I'm doing," he said. "Is ensuring that each person gets a taste of each sample so we may compare preferences and then determine a winner." He then sat down in his spot and handed Penny a slice of cake.

"Aren't you having any?" she asked, before taking a bite.

He shook his head. "I don't eat food that other people have touched."

Leonard frowned as Penny handed him the slice. "Couldn't you have just tested each piece of cake first? That way you wouldn't have been exposed to anyone else's germs."

Sheldon shook his head again. "No. Simply watching the six of you pass around cake that is now a carrier of the bacteria in each of your mouths is sickening enough; I couldn't live with myself if I'd also contributed to that sugary, icing-coated death trap."

Raj, who had taken a bite of cake while Sheldon had been speaking, glared at the theoretical physicist before reluctantly swallowing his share.

"To be honest," Sheldon continued. "I'm surprised that _you're_ eating cake, Penny."

Penny frowned as she took a bite from another piece. "Why?" she asked, her mouth slightly full.

"It's my understanding that women who are planning on getting married are very conscious of what they eat in order to look slender and desirable in their wedding dress. But, seeing as you've displayed no guilt over scarfing down every meal that's been put in front of you, I suppose you don't have that worry."

Penny cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. Maybe it was due to all of the stress of wedding planning, or maybe Sheldon's comment was simply more insulting to her than usual. Whatever the cause, a second later, Sheldon Cooper ended up with a slice of cake squashed against his face.

As the whackadoodle hurried to the bathroom, ranting about how the samples of cake were for taste testing purposes only, Penny cracked a smile. After having to follow the direct orders of Sheldon and Amy for almost two months now, beaming the theoretical physicist in the face with that cake felt pretty good.


	15. Chapter 15

Christmas wasn't the most cheerful time of year it usually was. Knowing that money was still pretty tight, Leonard and Penny had both agreed that their money would be better spent on the wedding than on gifts for each other. While it put a bit of a damper on things, Sheldon's excitement over it was the real downer. He quickly took to enforcing the no gifts rule, claiming he had cancelled Christmas. Penny suspected that Sheldon taking such pride in that was just the part of him that wanted to be a super villain shining through. Either that or it stemmed from them watching _How the Grinch Stole Christmas _again.

Leonard had had a different theory. "Sheldon's just opposed to Christmas because of its religious origins and the suffering it put him through as a child."

Penny had just shrugged. Whatever the reason, it was still rather annoying.

"Though, I am impressed that, between the two of us, _you_ were the first one to suggest super villain," he'd added, grinning. He had a point there.

* * *

><p>With the start of the new year, things began moving much more quickly. While for the past three months of planning Penny had thought that Sheldon and Amy were already hurrying things along, she had been very wrong. They began having planning sessions every day, going over what they'd done already, what had yet to be done, how their finances were, and all of this was gone over at least three times per meeting. When Sheldon had said it was crunch time, he had not been kidding.<p>

The more demanding planning got, the more stressed out Penny began to feel. She'd been living with a decent amount of stress over the wedding and planning it with the Shamy, but she hadn't been finding it too difficult to keep at bay. Now, she found herself biting her tongue every few minutes to stop herself from snapping at a remark either Sheldon or Amy had made. And during their last meeting it had become clear that there were a few other people who were finding the wedding planning duo to be tiresome.

"Leonard and/or Penny," Sheldon had said.

"Leonard _and/or_ Penny?" Leonard had asked, cocking his head.

"He means that the job he's about to assign is applicable to either of you," Amy'd clarified.

After going back and forth about it for a few more minutes-which was another indication of how short everyone's patience was becoming-Sheldon had informed them that the job was updating the priest with the new wedding details.

"Why isn't one of you doing that?" Penny had asked. She had no problem doing it herself, but, except for meeting and hiring him, neither Leonard nor Penny had had much contact with the priest. Sheldon and Amy had been the ones meeting with him, insisting that 'they knew how to deal with these people'. Penny had been too afraid to ask what that meant.

"We would, but Amy and I are sensing that he wouldn't appreciate a call from either of us."

Penny had warily asked what the two had done to their priest, but both members of the Shamy stood by their claim of having done nothing wrong, and that the man was just over-sensitive. As it turned out, the two had offended the priest by inquiring why he'd decided to waste his life encouraging others to engage in a lifelong commitment with something as primitive as romantic love. Leonard and Penny started dealing with the people working on their wedding themselves from then on. Even if they weren't equipped to 'deal with those kinds of people.'

With all the stress and pain of planning, it was actually a breath of fresh air when Penny's dad came to visit in February. Usually, a visit from her father created more stress for Penny, as she tried to impress him and make him proud; however, since she and Leonard had gotten back together, having her dad around had become much easier. Plus, spending time with Wyatt was a good excuse for getting out of some planning sessions and she was all for that. Penny did find it a little odd that her father was visiting so soon before the wedding, considering that flights from Nebraska to California weren't cheap, and in April _both_ her parents would be flying out, but she chalked it up to her dad's excitement over the wedding.

They spent the day out, discussing wedding details, and how things were going back in Nebraska. Wyatt, of course, was much more interested in talking about the wedding, and did nothing to hide his eagerness.

"It's exciting!" he said defensively, when Penny commented on this. "My little girl's getting married! Pretty soon you'll be having kids!" Both Leonard and Penny nearly choked on the drinks they were sipping at the restaurant they'd stopped at for lunch. "It's exciting!" Wyatt repeated.

After lunch, Wyatt drove them to the park. He led them to open field of grass, bringing with him a camera.

"Your mother wanted me to get some pictures," he explained, fiddling with the camera lens. Penny found that a bit strange, considering her mother would be here in two months and could take all the pictures she wanted then. Wyatt shrugged when she asked, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "You know your mother, she...she likes pictures of everything. Anyways, let's get this done."

He instructed Leonard and Penny to sit in the grass, and get close together. Penny sat in front of Leonard, leaning back against his chest and stomach, and resting her head just below his. Leonard wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in as close as possible.

Wyatt took a lot of pictures, getting them to sit in a couple different positions, and took a few of them standing, as well. When he was finally satisfied with the amount of photos he'd taken, they headed back through the park to the car. Penny slipped her hand into Leonard's as they walked back. Today had been a good day. She'd needed a break from all of the planning and decisions. Spending the day with Leonard and her dad had been a good way to relax.


	16. Chapter 16

Penny rested her chin on her hands as she watched, wide eyed, as Sheldon and Amy argued. Occasionally, she'd glance at Leonard, just to affirm that this situation was awkward for both of them.

It was March, about a month before the wedding. With the day getting closer, planning continued to grow more strenuous and everyone's stress levels were high. Even Sheldon and Amy had begun to turn on each other.

"From day one of planning, _I _have been the one to use the black marker," Sheldon said firmly, holding up the black marker for emphasis. "And it was decided then that I would be the only one to wield it."

"Yes, but there are _two_ black markers," Amy reminded him, snatching up the other one. "You never specified which was yours and which was mine."

"Neither is yours because I laid claim to _all_ black markers."

"You only laid claim to the black marker in your hand!"

"Well, I meant to lay claim to all of them."

"Again, lack of specification!"

"Guys!" Leonard said, raising his voice slightly. Sheldon and Amy were silent, and turned to face him. "Can we get back to the planning, please?"

The two glanced and each other and then reluctantly nodded.

"Why couldn't you have just used the red marker," Sheldon muttered, turning back to the board. He cleared his throat. "As I was saying, this" –he circled a small square on the blueprint that was up on the board- "is the table where Penny's family will be seated." The theoretical physicist circled another square. "And this is where, Bernadette, Howard, Raj, Amy, I, and you two will be seated. And, Leonard, your mother will be sitting there as well," he added.

Leonard just nodded. "Great," he mumbled.

Penny frowned. "Why wouldn't your mother just sit with the rest of your family?" She knew that it would probably be awkward for Beverley to sit at the same table as her estranged husband, but did they really need to be separated to such an extent?

"The rest of his family is not coming," Sheldon informed her before Leonard had a chance to reply.

Penny's eyes widened in shock. "They're not coming?" she asked Leonard incredulously.

"Yeah," he replied. "But, it's no big deal!" he assured her, giving her a small smile. "It's not like they made it to many other big events in my life, and my mother's actually coming, which is pretty unbelievable. It's no big deal," he repeated, when her shocked expression didn't change.

Despite his accompanying smile, Penny found it hard to believe that it wasn't a 'big deal'. Maybe Leonard was used to that sort of thing happening, but if it were her family bailing on her wedding for whatever reason, she'd probably be driven to tears.

"If we may continue," Sheldon said impatiently. He nodded to Amy and she used the red marker to circle a large rectangle on the blueprint. "That is where the wedding band will be set up, and they've requested that we supply them with about twenty chairs-"

"Hang on," Penny interrupted. "We don't have a wedding band yet. How has one put in requests?" She didn't like where this was going. If she were in _Star Wars_, she'd be telling Leonard that she had a bad feeling about this.

"Actually, bestie, we do have a wedding band," Amy corrected. "Sheldon hired them a week ago."

That bad feeling had been right on the nose. "So, you hired a wedding band without even consulting us first?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes.

Sheldon merely gave her a blank stare, clearly not comprehending where he'd gone wrong there.

"Well, which band did you hire?" Leonard asked.

"The Physic's Department String Quartet," he replied.

That bad feeling just kept on coming back. Penny turned to Leonard. "Is that the same string quartet you practiced with the night you and Leslie Winkle hooked up?"

"Um...yeah," he replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

Penny nodded a few times before speaking. "I do not think I want that," she said, her voice sounding higher than usual.

Sheldon let out a sigh of exasperation. "Penny, please. Be reasonable. The string quartet is cheap and easily accessible. Now, I understand that Leslie Winkle's evil presence will put a slight damper on things, but I think you're going to need to give a little here."

"Fine. Whatever," Penny snapped, getting to her feet. "Hire, your cheap little string quartet. I don't care!" She marched down the hall, ignoring Leonard as he tried to call her back.

She entered Leonard's bedroom, slamming the door behind her before she flopped onto Leonard's bed. Penny sighed. God, she felt so angry! She wasn't sure what infuriated her more, Sheldon hiring the band without consulting either her or Leonard, or the band having been a catalyst for Leonard and Leslie hooking up. She decided it was a mixture of it all. Normally, she wouldn't be so upset by the presence of one of Leonard's ex's, but for God's sake, this wasn't just a random meeting, this was her wedding! The last thing she wanted was a constant reminder of Leslie Winkle hanging over her head on what was supposed to be the most important day of her life!

Penny sat up when she heard noise coming from outside the door. It was Leonard's voice, but she couldn't make out what he said. Then Amy spoke. "Don't worry, Leonard. I have this situation under control; you can go back to the living room."

A second later, the door opened and Amy stepped inside. She came over to the bed and sat down next to Penny. "Hi, bestie," she said gently.

Penny sighed. "Hi." She didn't say anything else; she didn't want to talk to anyone.

"During the past few weeks, I've been sensing that you're feeling a little stressed out," Amy said.

Penny rolled her eyes. "No, I haven't been stressed out," she said sarcastically.

Amy frowned, puzzled. "No? Are you certain?"

"Yes, I've been stressed out!" she groaned, letting herself fall back onto the bed. She draped an arm over her face, covering her eyes.

"I see. Well, I'd just like to let you know that, if it's due to something I've done, then I'm very sorry."

Penny raised her head, lowering her arm from her face. Amy gave her a small smile, and the waitress couldn't help but smile back. She sat up, so she could face the neurobiologist directly. "Thank you," she said, sincerely.

"You're welcome," Amy replied, grinning brightly at Penny's change in mood. "I understand that wedding planning can be a strenuous endeavour. Right up there with pregnancy and college exams-for those who find college exams stressful, of course."

Penny smirked. "Of course."

"As your maid of honour, I was hoping to alleviate the majority of that stress, but given your current state, I seemed to have failed."

Penny sighed, shaking her head. "No, Amy, you've done a great job," she assured her, putting a hand on top of the neurobiologist's nearest one. "I really appreciate it."

Amy smiled at her, then her eyes widened. "I almost forgot!" she said, reaching for her hand bag.

"What?" Penny asked, curiously.

Amy began digging through her purse, and a moment later pulled something out. Hidden in Amy's clenched fist, Penny couldn't make out what it was.

"Here," said the neurobiologist cheerfully. She dropped the item into Penny's hand. The waitress stared at it curiously. It was a blue marble with a silver chain attached to it, creating a sort of bracelet.

"Um...thank you," she said, though she was rather confused. "What-what's it for?"

"It's your something new, something old, something borrowed, and something blue all rolled into one!" Amy replied excitedly.

"Really?" Penny asked, incredulously, examining the bracelet more carefully.

Amy nodded. "The blue marble is the something blue and it's also the something borrowed because I once borrowed that marble to use for an experiment from a child in my second grade class, but I never returned it. That also makes the marble something old; however, it's something new because by adding that _new_ silver chain, I created a _new _bracelet."

Penny stared at the neurobiologist for a moment before pulling her into a hug. "I love it," she said. "Thank you."

Sheldon and Amy might be the most stressful wedding planners to work with, but she loved them. Even if they hired Leslie Winkle and her string quartet...although, now that she thought about it...

"I still don't want the Physic's Department String Quartet to play at the wedding, though," she mumbled, sheepishly.

Amy broke away from the hug to look at her. "Understood. We'll go fix that."

Yep, she loved them.


	17. Chapter 17

"Well, I'd call that a success!" Amy said cheerily as the seven climbed the stairs back up to the fourth floor.

Penny grinned at the neurobiologist. They'd just come from the rehearsal dinner and, honestly, it _had _been a success. All of Sheldon and Amy's stressful but thorough planning and scheduling had finally paid off. And tomorrow, she and Leonard would be married. Her smile now even wider than before, Penny slipped her hand into Leonard's and gave it a squeeze. Their eyes met and they grinned at each other.

"Well, it _would _have been a success had certain people actually attended the rehearsal," Sheldon said, looking pointedly at Penny.

The waitress rolled her eyes. The theoretical physicist was irritated because her mother and brother had not been able to make it to the rehearsal because they'd needed to stay in Nebraska one extra day. Penny didn't see what Sheldon was complaining about, though. Her father and sister had been there, and Wyatt had assured her that her mother and brother would be there tomorrow.

"Sheldon, considering that highest on your worst case scenario list was that an earthquake hit and killer rats were unleashed, I think the rehearsal went rather well," Leonard pointed out.

"Things definitely went well for Raj," Howard added, giving his best friend a nudge.

"How so?" Bernadette asked, cocking her head.

"Let's just say that a certain Cheesecake Factory waitress named _Cheryl_ was rather impressed by him this evening," the engineer replied, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Raj rapidly shook his head at Howard, looking embarrassed. Penny smirked. Clearly the effects of alcohol that had enchanted Cheryl that evening had worn off.

When they reached the fourth floor, Howard rubbed his hands together. "Bachelor party time."

Sheldon nodded to the engineer. "I'm usually not a fan of that sort of event, but since I got to plan it, I'm rather excited."

Howard's grin immediately faded. "Oh. Right. You planned it. I forgot."

"So, what _are_ we doing tonight?" Leonard asked.

"Playing Klingon boggle," Sheldon replied brightly as he unlocked the door to 4A.

"This is gonna be the best bachelor party ever," Howard mumbled sarcastically as he and Raj followed Sheldon into the apartment.

Before Leonard had a chance to follow them, Penny moved her hands to his cheeks and put her lips on his. She grinned into his lips as she felt his arms slide around her waist. They held like that for a few moments and then broke apart. She grinned at him, keeping her hands on his face. "I love you," she said, touching the tip of her nose to his.

"I love you, too," he said, grinning back.

They let each other go then, and went into their respective apartments. Amy and Bernadette followed Penny into 4B and sat down on the couch, except for Amy who sat in the green chair.

"So...now what?" Bernadette asked, looking between Penny and Amy.

Penny was about to suggest they crack open a bottle of wine and play truth or dare, but Amy answered before she could reply. "We wait for the stripper, of course." Both Penny and Bernadette laughed at that, but the neurobiologist frowned. "Why are you laughing?"

"Well, you're kidding, right?" Bernadette giggled.

"Yeah, you didn't actually order a stripper," Penny agreed. Suddenly her eyes widened as a thought hit her. "Oh-oh my God, did you actually order a stripper?"

Amy frowned in confusion. "Of course, I did. Why else would I have just suggested we wait for one?"

"Amy!" Penny cried incredulously.

"What?" she asked, clearly befuddled.

"Why would you order a stripper?" Bernadette asked when Penny merely groaned and laid her head back on the couch in response to Amy's question.

"That's what women do in all of those romantic comedies you've been showing me!" Amy replied defensively. "As maid of honour, I felt I should follow their lead."

"But those are just movies!" Penny argued, sitting up again. "It's like the wedding dress thing; women don't actually get in fist fights over dresses!" When no one said anything else, Penny leaned her head back again and sighed. Only Amy Farrah Fowler-well, no, not just Amy Farrah Fowler; there'd been a stripper at her sister's party the night before the wedding, but she'd thought that Amy was aware that she was not the kind of girl who wanted to see a total stranger strip down in front her the night before she got married.

"Cheryl seemed to think it would be a good idea," Amy mumbled.

"Well Cheryl can-"Penny bit her tongue before she could finish that sentence. "...is not the best person to ask about that sort of thing," she mumbled.

She cringed when she heard a sudden knock at the door. "Is that him?" she groaned.

"Most likely," Amy replied, clasping her hands together nervously. She cleared her throat. "My bad."

Penny let out another sigh. No more romantic comedies for Amy.

* * *

><p>Penny quietly slipped out of the apartment, making sure the door closed soundlessly. She shook her head once she had made it out safe from notice. What was going on in her apartment...was far too bizarre to even think about. She shook her head again and then looked across the hall at 4A. She really wanted to go over there so she could tell Leonard and the guys what was going on, but she wasn't supposed to see Leonard until tomorrow. Stupid tradition. Anyways, she didn't think Sheldon would take too kindly to her interrupting their Klingon boggle tournament.<p>

The waitress made her way downstairs, not really sure what she planned to do once she reached the lobby. She didn't feel like going out anywhere-not that there would be many places open at this time of night, anyway. For whatever reason, she found her feet carrying her towards the laundry room. She didn't know why; she didn't have any clothes in any of the machines that she could pick up, nor did she have clothes with her that needed washing. Maybe if one of the machines was running she would sit on it and bounce around for a while. It took Penny a moment to realize just how sad that sounded.

When she rounded the corner and looked into the laundry room, she stopped in surprise. Leonard was in there, folding one of his T-shirts. Penny grinned. She didn't care if she wasn't supposed to see him, she was happy he was down here, too.

"Hey," she said from where she stood in the doorway.

His head snapped up and he turned to face her. A slow smile took over his face when he saw her. "Hey," he said, putting the shirt in his hands down.

She walked over and joined him in front of the folding table, picking up a shirt. "What brings you down here?" she asked.

Leonard shrugged. "Raj and Sheldon got into an argument over the existence of a Klingon word that Sheldon used during the game, so then Howard looked it up in our Klingon dictionary and found that it didn't exist. So, then Sheldon went on a psychotic rant and I decided that doing laundry was just a little less sad." He chuckled and grinned at her.

Penny nodded, grinning back. "My story's totally better than yours."

Leonard cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?" he asked, amused. "What happened?"

"Amy ordered a stripper." Penny laughed when Leonard's jaw dropped. "Told you mine was better!"

Leonard began moving his mouth, trying to speak. "So...so you-you decided to come down here _before_ anything happened with this stripper...right? _Right?_" he repeated, his voice going slightly higher when she simply smiled at him.

Penny kept the smile up for a second longer and then let him off the hook. "Don't worry," she assured him. "I didn't see anything. I just left Amy to get her money's worth."

The look of relief that had come over Leonard's face immediately evaporated into a look of pure horror. "Amy is...she...with the _stripper?_..." He gestured awkwardly with his hands. "..._what?_"

Penny giggled and shook her head. "Messing with you again. Amy decided that she'd get the most enjoyment out of the evening by attaching electrodes to the stripper's head and asking him what makes him so comfortable taking off his clothes in front of crowds of people."

Leonard stared at her for a moment and then shook his head. "Of course," he said. Then he cocked his head. "Then what's Bernadette doing?"

"She's just making sure Amy doesn't get into any trouble," Penny replied, shrugging.

They both chuckled and then continued folding the clothes. They did this in silence for a few moments and then Penny giggled, shaking her head.

Leonard frowned at her. "What?"

She shrugged, still chuckling. "I can't believe we're doing laundry on the night before our wedding."

He laughed along with her. "Not very exciting, huh?" She nodded in agreement.

As she finished folding the T-shirt in her hands, Penny noticed that there were only a few articles of clothing left to sort out. Even if it wasn't that interesting, she'd rather be doing laundry with Leonard than listening to the confessions of a stripper. She bit her lip and glanced at the door. No one would be coming down to do laundry at this time of night, so they wouldn't be interrupted...

Smiling mischievously, she moved towards him and slid her arms around his neck. He barely had time to react before she put her lips on his. His hands went to her waist a split second later, but then he pulled back slightly.

Leonard grinned at her, raising an eyebrow. "Really? In here?"

"Way more exciting than doing laundry," she pointed out before moving in to kiss him again.

Not seeing your fiancé the night before the wedding was a stupid rule, anyways.


	18. Chapter 18

Howard and Raj sat on the couch, watching Sheldon as he paced across the living room floor, wringing his hands in distress.

"I don't understand," the theoretical physicist fretted. "A minute ago he was fine and then-Oh God! It must be food poisoning! What did we eat last night?"

Howard rolled his eyes. It was the big day, the wedding, and they'd been about to leave for the museum when Leonard had run to the bathroom and thrown up, causing his germ-phobic roommate to have a panic attack.

"Sheldon, relax," said the engineer. "It's just pre-wedding jitters. Remember how many times _I _threw up right before my wedding?"

"No, he wouldn't remember," Raj pointed out. "He ran away the minute you started yakking all over the place."

Howard frowned, trying to remember. He shrugged. "Right. Well, anyways, Sheldon, don't worry. You're in no danger of catching a disease."

"We're always in danger of catching a disease!" Sheldon exclaimed. "It's those who are ignorant of that fact that get taken down first!"

The engineer let out a sigh of exasperation. "Find him a paper bag, will you?" he asked, turning to Raj.

The astrophysicist obliged and went to the kitchen to locate a bag for the whackadoodle. He brought it back to Sheldon, who was about to take it when his cell phone rang. He answered it, causing _The Imperial March _ringtone to cut off.

"Hello?" he said breathlessly, his hands still a little bit shaky. He listened to whoever was on the other end and then Howard and Raj watched curiously as the theoretical physicist's face grew even paler than before. Then, his nervous ranting about food poisoning started all over again.

Howard got to his feet and shoved the paper bag at Sheldon before snatching his cell phone away. "Hello?" he said.

"Howard?" It was Amy.

"It's Howard," he affirmed. "What's going on?" The engineer nodded as Amy explained that they were running a bit late; apparently the groom wasn't the only one experiencing pre-wedding jitters.

Sheldon still didn't seem to grasp that concept and was now hyperventilating into the paper bag, fearfully waiting for when the 'food poisoning' would strike him down as well.

The engineer rolled his eyes again. "Sheldon!" he snapped. "They're both just nervous, okay? Nerves! Not food poisoning!"

"It's actually sort of sweet when you think about," Raj commented, grinning. Howard rolled his eyes a third time.

* * *

><p>Leonard was out of the bathroom long before Sheldon had calmed down, and helped Howard and Raj attempt to bring his roommate's level of anxiety down.<p>

When he had finally abandoned the paper bag and his breathing was back to normal, Sheldon got to his feet. "Alright," he sighed. "Now we can go." He turned to Leonard. "But don't scare me like that again."

Leonard could have been annoyed by that, but decided to pretend Sheldon was saying it because he was actually concerned for the experimental physicist's well-being. Keeping his thoughts positive was one of the many tactics he was using to ensure he didn't throw up again.

When they'd headed down the stairs and gotten into the car, Sheldon's phone rang again.

"If it's Amy, don't answer it," Howard instructed, leaning forward from the back seat.

"Why?" Leonard asked, frowning as he fastened his seatbelt.

"Because the last time Amy called, he went bat-crap crazy!" the engineer pointed out. Leonard smirked and started the car.

It _was_ Amy who was calling and, despite Howard's warning, Sheldon answered the call, putting her on speaker.

"Status report, Amy?" Sheldon inquired.

"The Millennium Eagle is leaving the Mos Eisley spaceport," Amy's voice replied. "What?" she asked someone on the other end. "A falcon? Penny, we're indoors, that's absurd. There are no falcons in here!"

Leonard, Howard, and Raj smirked at that, but Sheldon did not seem amused.

"I'll call you back when we reach Alteraan," Amy said. She paused and a voice was heard in the background. "Okay, now Penny's saying it's Alderaan."

Leonard smiled to himself when he heard that. That was his girl correcting Amy about _Star Wars_. He was marrying that girl.


	19. Chapter 19

Penny sucked in a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her dress was on; her veil was draped across the back of her head; her makeup was finished, and her something new, blue, old, and borrowed hung loosely on her left wrist. Had it been any other day, she would have spent more time admiring her reflection and realizing just how beautiful she looked. But now, all she could do when she looked in that mirror was squeeze her hands together to try and keep them from shaking. God, she'd never felt this nervous in her life. Not when she'd been a member of the Corn Queen's Court, nor when she'd packed up her things and left Nebraska for California.

"You okay in there, bestie?"

Penny cracked a smile. "Yes, Amy. I'm fine."

"Because if you need to talk about anything at all, I will literally be standing right outside the door the entire time!" she called.

The waitress shook her head in amusement at Amy's eagerness. While she knew the neurobiologist was excited about the wedding, she had a feeling that her bestie just wanted to get in another one of their 'classic bathroom gab fests' before she was done getting changed and ready.

"Good to know!" she called back.

She turned back to the mirror and let out a shaky sigh. Not much more she could do in here. "Okay, I'm coming out!" she said before opening the door.

Amy hadn't been kidding when she said she'd literally be right outside the door; when Penny exited the bathroom she nearly walked straight into the neurobiologist. Amy hardly seemed to notice, though. The moment she saw Penny, a smile lit up her face and she clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Oh, six months of work all coming together!" she said, shaking her head in happiness. Penny smiled, taking that as a compliment.

"Oh my God, Penny, you look gorgeous," Bernadette exclaimed, coming forward and grabbing her hands.

"Leonard's gonna see you and want to rip that dress right off," Cheryl added in her own form of agreement.

Leonard. The next time she saw him would be when she was walking down the aisle, which would be in about one hour. She was getting married in one hour. She was marrying Leonard in one hour.

"Penny, you're shaking," Bernadette said, able to feel her friend's trembling hands in her own.

Penny shook her head, trying to calm herself down. "I'm fine," she assured the microbiologist. "Just a little nervous."

"You know, you said that this morning," Amy pointed out. "And as it turned out, you were not fine because-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what happened!" Penny interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. She'd made a vow this morning that no matter how nervous she got, she would _not_ throw up again.

"Do you need a glass of water?" Bernadette asked, gently.

Penny nodded vigorously.

"On it!" Amy said before rushing out of the little room the museum had put them in.

Bernadette guided Penny to the small couch at the back wall and the two sat down. "Now, just calm down," the microbiologist soothed, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't be nervous."

"Yeah!" Cheryl said, plopping down on the arm of the couch. "Be excited! You're getting married for God's sake, girl! Not walking the plank!"

Penny smirked. "You couldn't have given a more modern unpleasant alternative?" she joked.

Cheryl shrugged. "Alright, fine. You're getting married!" she repeated, this time in a much more exaggerated tone. "Not having open heart surgery done!"

Penny actually laughed out loud at that, the other two waitresses along with her. She sighed, smiling. If she'd had girl friends this wonderful and supportive back home in Nebraska, then she'd certainly have had an easier time ridding herself of stress about the Corn Queen's Court and moving away. It hadn't been that bad, of course; her mother had been there to talk her through it all and offer encouragement.

It was then that Penny realized that her mother was not present and hadn't been the entire time they'd been up here. She frowned, looking around-which, she realized, was rather silly since she already knew that her mother was not in this room.

"Um, have either of you seen my mom around since we got here?" she asked, trying to not let her mother's absence worry her.

Both waitresses shook their heads. "Maybe she's with your dad," Bernadette suggested, shrugging.

Penny nodded to herself. That was probably it. Or maybe she was just making sure her brother didn't sneak off somewhere like he'd done at her sister's wedding. She shook her head at the memory; that had certainly been a night to remember. Penny did hope that her brother would behave, though. What with the trouble he'd been getting back into this past year, she wouldn't put it past him to pull another wedding incident like that last one.

She shook her head. Putting all that aside, she still wanted her mother in here with her and there was only an hour until the wedding started.

The waitress got to her feet. "I'm going to go see if my dad knows where she is," she said, heading for the door.

She started down the hallway, making her way towards the stairs. She knew her father would be somewhere on the second floor where Leonard and the guys would be getting ready. They'd gotten change rooms on two different floors to further lessen the chances of her and Leonard seeing each other before the ceremony. Penny figured she'd risk going downstairs, though. Besides, she thought mischievously. They had technically already violated that rule last night.

She reached the second floor and was surprised to find Amy coming down the hall. "Amy?" she asked, frowning. "What are you doing down here? I thought you were getting water."

Amy's eyes suddenly widened. "Water!" she exclaimed, her hands going to her face. "I forgot about the water!"

Penny frowned. "Don't worry about it. But, what _were_ you doing?"

"Well, I ran into Zack Johnson on my way to get the water, and he was wondering where he was supposed to be because he didn't attend the rehearsal dinner because he claimed he didn't need to practice for it. So, I said, "Hoo!" and he said, "Zack-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Penny had done a double take a few seconds after Amy had said Zack's name. "_Zack Johnson?_"

Amy nodded. "Yes, Zack Johnson. Anyways, I showed him where he needed to be and-"

Penny cut her off again. "As in the Zack Johnson I dated?"

"Yes, what other Zack Johnson would be in attendance?" she asked, frowning in confusion.

"There isn't supposed to be _any_ Zack Johnson in attendance!" Penny exclaimed, unable to believe what she was hearing. Zack was here? At her and Leonard's _wedding_?

"Of course there is," Amy said. "Zack called Sheldon and told him that he was invited, so we put him on the guest list."

"And you didn't think to inform me and Leonard?" Penny asked, her voice becoming shrill. She could feel the anger in her rising and, at this point, she was in no mood to keep it under control.

"In our defense, we didn't relay that particular piece of information to you because we thought you were aware that he was invited," she explained. "Anything else we didn't inform you of was for your own good."

"There were other things you didn't tell us?" Penny asked through clenched teeth. "Like what?"

Amy seemed to have realized just how angry Penny was and spoke carefully as she replied. "Don't be mad, bestie," she said. "But we ended up hiring the Physic's Department String Quartet." Penny knew that had Amy not been trying to better the situation, she would have commented on her now-flaring nostrils. "We had already given them a non-refundable cheque," she continued in a rush. "It was out of our hands."

"It was _not _out of your hands!" Penny cried, nearly shouting. "You could have asked me or Leonard about the wedding bands _first!_ You weren't supposed to hire anyone or buy anything without asking us first!"

"We were simply doing our best to help," Amy began.

"You-you..." She was almost too angry to speak. The words she did find, she shouted. "You weren't asked to do anything! You just volunteered and made things a hell of a lot more stressful!"

With that, Penny stormed down the hall, not looking back. All of that pent up stress and frustration was all coming out and she couldn't keep it down. Let Sheldon and Amy help plan the wedding; it will be just fine. Let Sheldon and Amy control the finances; it will be just fine. Let Sheldon and Amy control every detail concerning the wedding; it will be just fine. Good joke.

Penny kept her fists clenched as she walked around the second floor, not going anywhere in particular; she was just walking to blow off steam. Her face felt hot and she was sure it was red from the yelling she'd done. God, she was furious! She wanted to go find Leonard so she could rant about Sheldon and Amy because even if it wouldn't change anything, she knew he would listen and that was all she wanted. For someone to listen. A courtesy that apparently hadn't been extended to her during the past six months of planning.

In her anger, Penny wasn't really paying attention to where she was walking, so when she rounded the corner, she nearly crashed right into her father.

She actually managed to smile when she saw it was her dad. Now, she could at least find her mother and alleviate some of the anger and stress that was weighing down on her. Her mother always listened to her when she had something on her mind.

Wyatt had come to a halt when he'd seen her. He'd brought a hand to his head in shock as he looked at her and a large smile lit up his face. "Oh, sweetheart," he said, shaking his head. "Look at you"-he put a hand to her cheek-"you look beautiful."

Penny smiled. "Thanks, daddy."

"What are you doing down here, though?" he asked. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready upstairs?"

"I'm ready," Penny said, gesturing towards her dress. "But, I came down here to find mom," she explained. "Where is she?"

The uncomfortable expression that came over her father's face did nothing to ease the current stress she was feeling. Wyatt removed his hand from her face and brought it to the back of his neck, rubbing it awkwardly. The next words that came out of his mouth sent a shock through Penny. "She's not coming."


	20. Chapter 20

**This is the final chapter, so I hope you all enjoyed it. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Tears streamed down Penny's face as she hurried down the hall, again, not having a specific place to go. She vaguely wondered how many more times she would storm through these hallways after being hit with another painful truth today.

There was a small bench at the end of the hall she was walking down and she sat down when she reached it. She put her face in her hands, shaking her head as more tears fell. She knew she was ruining her makeup, but she didn't care. Her mother wasn't coming. "She's not coming," her father had said. She shook her head again as her shoulders began to shake and her crying became audible.

_"What do you mean she's not coming?" _She remembered how quiet her voice had been then; she'd been afraid to ask why because having a reason would bring even more reality to this situation.

_ "She had to stay home with your brother. He's not supposed to be going anywhere outside of Omaha because of what's been going on and we couldn't leave him there alone."_ He'd spoken gently to her, but she'd barely registered his kindness; the tears had already been threatening to spill over and the anger inside of her was bubbling up.

Penny tried pushing her fingers in her eyes to keep more tears from coming, but it did no good. Too many emotions and too much stress had hit her all at once and now all she could do was cry to try and let it all out.

She wasn't sure who she was most angry at or frustrated with at this point. Sheldon and Amy who'd kept things from her? Her brother who was responsible for her mother not attending? Her father for not telling her the truth sooner? Or her mother for simply not showing up, regardless of the reasons?

She decided she was mad at her father, if only because she'd just yelled at him and it was freshest in her mind. But she was also angry because had she had to make the choice between the two, she'd have wanted her mother there more than her dad. Hell, even if she'd had to pick one member of her whole family she'd have picked her mom. She knew that both parents were equally excited about her wedding, but she knew that her dad was more excited because it was Leonard she was marrying and, had it not been Leonard or someone like Leonard, she doubted he'd have as much enthusiasm. Her mother would have been happy for her either way, regardless of who it was.

She kept her face buried in her hands and let the tears continue to fall, sniffing every once and a while. She stayed like that for a long time, and then she heard footsteps coming down the hall. She didn't look up to see who it was; she just hoped it wasn't her dad. She didn't want to talk to him right now. Whoever it was stopped in front of her, but she still didn't raise her head. It was only when they placed a hand on her shoulder that she broke and looked up. It was Sheldon.

He cleared his throat. "There, there," he said awkwardly, giving her shoulder a timid pat. Sheldon was also one of the people she was mad at, but Penny felt too worn out to unleash any of her anger on the theoretical physicist at the moment. "It's going to be alright," he continued, removing his hand from her shoulder at that point, clearly having reached his limit. "I know it's hard, but as Leonard assured me, miss-deliveries are a common error in today's society, so we can't expect even the most reliable florist shops to always bring the right flowers."

Penny frowned and cocked her head. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Sheldon looked down at her, confused. "The florist company we hired brought the wrong flowers," he explained. "Isn't that what you're crying about?"

Penny rolled her eyes and shook her head. Ironically, something like that probably would have upset her quite a bit had she not been faced with much worse problems. She sighed and began dabbing at her eyes, not wanting the mascara to get all over her face. "I'm crying," she said. "Because my mother isn't coming to the wedding."

Her explanation seemed to confuse Sheldon even more. Clearly the Sheldon who was driven to tears at the prospect of being taken away from his mother by Spock was not in at the moment. "Well, Leonard's mother is here," he finally said. "And she's technically your mother now, so does that count?"

Penny let out a long sigh. "That's not the same."

"How is it different?"

The waitress closed her eyes for a moment, leaning her head back against the wall. She really didn't want to have to explain it to Sheldon. She just wanted someone to sit with her and understand what she was feeling, not question it. And there was someone who could do that.

"Never mind," she sighed, sitting up straight. "Sheldon, can you please go get Leonard for me?"

"I thought you weren't supposed to see Leonard," Sheldon pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. Of course he would pick now to start caring about wedding traditions. "I don't care," she said. "Just go get him. _Please_." The pleading look she gave him worked and Sheldon hurried back down the hall.

It only took Leonard a few minutes to get there. He came hurrying down the hall with Sheldon a few steps behind. He quickened his pace when he saw her on the bench, and was almost jogging the last few steps to reach her.

He sat down next to her and took her hands in his, his face filled with concern. "Penny, what's wrong?"

She let out a long sigh before replaying. "My mom's not coming to the wedding." As she explained the situation with her mother in full detail, Leonard's arms curled around her, and when she leaned her head against his shoulder, his head came to rest on top of hers. Even though her voice cracked a few times as she spoke and her eyes grew damp again, she felt a small sense of relief that Leonard was there now.

Leonard kissed her forehead when she'd finished explaining about her mother and brother, but Penny didn't stop there. Letting out all of her feelings had weakened her resolve and now things she'd been keeping bottled up for the past six months were coming out.

"Sheldon and Amy are driving me crazy," she continued in a small voice. The theoretical physicist-who Penny had forgotten was there-cleared his throat loudly. They ignored him. "Leslie Winkle's stupid string quartet is performing and for some reason Zack is here."

Leonard raised his head at that and his hold on her loosened. "Um..." he said, sounding uncomfortable. "That might actually be my fault...sort of." Penny tilted her head to see him better as he told her about the night he'd meant to propose and they'd run into Zack.

"God," she sighed once Leonard had finished speaking. "This is supposed to be our wedding. Why is all this happening?"

"Well...if you don't...I mean, if it's too much...you don't have to do this," Leonard stuttered, his voice low.

Penny immediately sat up straight so she could look at Leonard directly and stared at him in shock. "No," she said, shaking her head. "I want to marry you," she said firmly, making sure that was clear. She was shocked that he had suggested that. Not even while she'd been sobbing alone on this bench had she thought about not going through with the wedding. During the six months of planning, knowing that at the end of everything, she would be marrying Leonard, had been the one light in the distance that she'd been using to keep optimistic and control her stress. Marrying Leonard, the man she loved, was the one thing Penny wanted. And, when she thought about it, it was the only thing that really mattered.

Penny finally cracked a smile and she grinned at Leonard before putting her hands on his cheeks and kissing him. This was what she wanted, and no amount of stress and frustrations would change that or get in the way.

At that point, Sheldon cleared his throat again and the couple broke apart. "We are on a bit of a schedule here," he said, seeming to be doing his best to not sound impatient. "And I believe we have about fifteen minutes before the ceremony, so if we could speed this up a little..." He looked at the two of them expectantly.

Leonard and Penny rose from the bench and then Leonard put a hand on Penny's cheek. "You're sure you're okay?" he asked.

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine." And she meant it this time. She really was fine, now.

* * *

><p>Penny found Amy standing outside of the small change room on the third floor. The neurobiologist cast her a nervous glance when she saw her coming down the hall. Penny replied to the look of apprehension with a small smile.<p>

"Hey," Penny said, when she'd come to a halt in front of Amy. "Listen, I'm sorry I yelled at you before; I was just upset. But that's still no excuse for saying what I did. You worked really hard to make my wedding great and I want you to know that I appreciate it so, so much."

Amy cocked her head and looked at Penny curiously. "You aren't upset anymore?" she asked. "You went from an angry, raging beast, to a calm and collected human being in the span of forty minutes?"

Penny smirked. "I guess so."

"Interesting," she mused, her face taking on a look of concentration.

"What?" Penny asked, frowning slightly.

Amy smiled and shrugged. "Nothing. Just the type of fun brain activity I find intriguing."

Penny shook her head in amusement before pulling Amy into a hug. "That's why I love you, bestie," she said warmly.

"Love you, too, bestie," Amy said just as brightly. Then she suddenly pulled back. "But just so we're clear, by love, I'm not referring to the primitive feeling of romantic love that you and Leonard are about to commit to. Just plain and simple friendship love, which I still think is borderline primitive."

Penny laughed and nodded. "I got it. And speaking of my commitment to 'primitive romantic love', I think we have to get going."

* * *

><p>Penny's heart fluttered as the music started to play. It was time. Unlike earlier, though, she was no longer nervous or stressed; she was excited and couldn't wait to reach the end of the aisle where Leonard was waiting for her.<p>

As her father walked her down the aisle, Penny gave his arm a squeeze. They'd had arguments much worse than the one they'd had today, and those were very rarely resolved by hugs and apologies, so she knew Wyatt would take that small arm squeeze as a sign of reconciliation.

They drew nearer to the front and Penny's eyes locked on Leonard's. They were doing this. They were finally getting married. All of the stress and pain that she'd been experiencing for the past six months as they made their way here now seemed so unimportant, even though she'd still been in tears because of it less than twenty minutes ago.

Penny finally reached Leonard and they smiled at each other as they linked hands and moved to stand in front of the priest. As the priest began the ceremony, Penny became less and less aware of the people that filled the hall and focused completely on Leonard. As they smiled at each other, Penny wasn't thinking about Leslie Winkle playing the music that was filling the hall, or Zack sitting in the audience watching, nor was she thinking about her mother not being there. All she could think of was Leonard, the man she loved, the man she was marrying. Because that was all that mattered.

When their lips finally met and they kissed as husband and wife for the first time, Penny grinned. They were husband and wife. They were married. And that was all that mattered.


End file.
